An upbeat Scott Bessent walked into the US Treasury department on Tuesday, optimistic that the tensions between America and some of its allies in the wake of last week’s “liberation day” tariff announcement would soon be eased.
“I think you’re going to see a couple of big trading partners do deals very quickly,” he told reporters.
In the days before and after President Donald Trump announced steep tariffs on much of the world last week, the Treasury secretary was upstaged by boisterous hardliners such as Peter Navarro, the White House trade tsar, and Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary.
But this week Bessent has burst into the fray as the president has opened the door to negotiations with some allies in the face of the brutal sell-off in equities that triggered a backlash from Wall Street to Capitol Hill.
Trump has designated Bessent to lead talks with Japan and South Korea, the first big US trading partners in line for an accord to potentially reduce the levies, alongside Jamieson Greer, the US trade representative.
Meanwhile, Navarro, who has been deeply sceptical of negotiations over the tariffs, has been relegated to the sidelines — for now — along with Lutnick, who has been the main interlocutor for foreign trade officials. In recent days, two foreign officials have said the commerce secretary has made clear that he lacks the mandate from Trump to enter into trade talks with them.
The shift in clout on Trump’s trade team reflects the president’s dawning realisation that he has to show he is trying to stabilise markets after withering criticism from all sides of the political spectrum and from many business leaders that he has been too complacent about the damage his tariffs would inflict on the economy and the financial sector.
During Trump’s first term, Bessent’s predecessor Steven Mnuchin became one of the administration’s leading trade doves, restraining the president’s protectionist instincts and often clashing with Navarro.
He and Robert Lighthizer, then the US trade representative, led high-stakes negotiations with China, a formula that Trump now appears to want to return to in some fashion for talks with other big trading partners.
“Bessent and Greer are more qualified to negotiate and not inflame. They are the rational traffic cops to de-escalate but achieve acceptable and meaningful results,” said a person familiar with the talks.
The more central role of Bessent — who last weekend spent time with Trump in Florida, flying back with him to Washington — comes amid signs of rising tensions within the White House.
Elon Musk, the billionaire technology executive and White House adviser who has said he would like to see a broad trade deal with the EU, on Tuesday launched an extraordinary attack on Navarro, calling him a “moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks” for suggesting that Tesla, his electric vehicle company, simply assembled — rather than manufactured — its vehicles in America.
On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt sought to minimise the spat. “These are obviously two individuals who have very different views on trade and on tariffs. Boys will be boys, and we will let their public sparring continue,” she said.
But whether Bessent can pacify investors and negotiate agreements with a wide range of countries in a second Trump administration that is more dogmatic and aggressive than the first is unclear.
The South Carolinian former hedge fund manager has embraced Trump’s justification for imposing the tariffs in the first place, including his desire to reshape global commerce so America’s economy is no longer dependent on cheap imported goods, even if it comes at a cost.
“One always had the sense that by virtue of his background, Bessent would be more liberally minded on trade. On the other hand, in joining the administration, he had to sign up to the programme. And he knew what he was signing up to,” said Mark Sobel, a former Treasury official in past Democratic and Republican administrations.
On Tuesday, US equity prices dropped again after opening higher, with investors sceptical that negotiations with some countries would be enough to overcome their fears for the global economy. A number of Wall street financiers have warned the measures could cause a worldwide recession.
Navarro has suggested Trump’s shift to talks with selective countries is not inconsistent with his views. “Context matters. I said ‘This is not a negotiation . . . it is a national emergency . . . President Trump is always willing to listen,” he wrote in an email to the Financial Times. “We like what we have been hearing.”
Meanwhile, Greer told Congress that while more than 50 countries had approached him seeking talks to lift the punitive tariffs, the negotiations could be protracted and he declined to put a timeline for any deals.
Critics accuse the Trump administration of failing to explain the ultimate goal of launching such an expansive trade war, and now attempting to retreat on some of it — a contradiction that Bessent may not be able to resolve.
“There is no clear message on how the tariffs were determined, what they’re supposed to accomplish, how long they’ll be in place, whether they’re a negotiating tool or a move to try and cut the United States off from global trade,” said Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate finance committee.
“In the days since Donald Trump announced tariffs, the president and his advisers have repeatedly changed their stories on all of these questions,” he added.
Analysts say this uncertainty is underpinned by the fear that Trump could easily reverse course again.
“We get the impression that what Trump says on any day may vary based upon who the last person he spoke with is,” said Sobel. “So maybe he’s spoken with Bessent lately, but maybe he’ll speak with Navarro tomorrow.”
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