A genuine Scott Bessent entered the US Treasury Department on Tuesday, optimistic that tensions between America and some of its allies in the wake of last week’s Liberation Tariffs would soon be facilitated.
“I think you will see some major trading partners make deals very quickly,” he told reporters.
In the early days and after President Donald Trump announced steep tariffs in much of the world last week, the Treasury Secretary rose from bold rigidity such as Peter Navarro, White House trade Tsar and Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce.
But this week Bessent has exploded in the quarrel while the president has opened the door to negotiations with some allies in the face of the brutal sales of net capital that caused a reaction from Wall Street to Capitol Hill.
Trump has appointed Bessent to lead talks with Japan and South Korea, the first major US trading partners in line for a deal to potentially reduce taxes, along with Jamieson Greer, representative of American trade.
Meanwhile, Navarro, who has been deeply skeptical of tariff negotiations, has moved to the borders – for now – along with Lutnick, who has been the leading interlocutor for foreign trade officials.
In recent days, two foreign officials have said the Secretary of Commerce has explained that he lacks the mandate from Trump to enter trade talks with them.
Changing the impact on Trump’s commercial team reflects the President’s dawn meaning that he has to show that he is trying to stabilize markets after applying criticism from all over the political spectrum and many business leaders that he has been very complacent for the damage his tariffs would cause in the economy and the financial sector.
During Trump’s first term, Bessent’s ancestor Steven Mnuchin became one of the leading pigeons of the administration trade, limiting the president’s protectionist instincts and often colliding with Navarro.
He and Robert Lightizer, then the US trade representative, led high -interest negotiations with China, a formula that Trump now seems to somehow return to talks with other major trading partners.
“Bessent and Greer are more qualified to negotiate and not ignite. They are rational traffic policies to de-pass, but achieve acceptable and significant results,” said one person familiar with the talks.
Bessent’s most central role – which last weekend spent time with Trump in Florida, flying back with her in Washington – comes amid signs of growing tensions inside the White House.
Elon Musk, the billionaire technology executive and the White House adviser who said he would like to see a wide trade agreement with the EU, on Tuesday launched an attack on Navarro, calling it a “Moron” and “Dumber than a brick sack for Tesla, his electric vehicle company was simply gathered.
On Tuesday, White House secretary Caroline Leavitt tried to minimize spat. “These are undoubtedly two individuals who have very different views on trade and fees,” she said, adding: “Boys will be boys, and we will allow their public sparring to continue.”
If Bessent can calm investors and negotiate agreements with a wide range of seats in a second Trump administration that is more dogmatic and aggressive than the first is unclear.
The former manager of the South Carolina defense fund has embraced Trump’s justification for setting tariffs, including his desire to reshape global trade so that the American economy no longer depends on imported goods, even if it comes at a cost.
“Someone always had the meaning that because of his ancestry, Bessent would have more liberal minds about trade. On the other hand, in administration membership, he had to register in the program. And he knew what was being recorded,” said Mark Sobel, a former treasure official in past democratic and Republican administrations.
On Tuesday, US capital prices fell again after opening higher, with skeptical investors that negotiations with some countries would be enough to overcome their fears of the global economy. A number of Wall Street funders have warned that measures can cause a worldwide recession.
Navarro has suggested Trump’s relocation to talks with selective countries is not contrary to his views. “The context matters. I said” This is not a negotiation … It’s a national emergency … President Trump is always ready to hear, “he wrote in an email to The Financial Times.” We like what we have heard. “
Meanwhile, Greer told Congress that while more than 50 countries had approached him seeking talks to lift punitive fees, negotiations could be extended and he refused to have a time limit for any agreement.
Critics accuse Trump’s administration of failure to explain the ultimate goal of starting such a broad trading war, and now trying to withdraw to some of it – a contradiction that Bessent may not be able to solve.
“There is no clear message of how tariffs are determined, what to accomplish, how long they will be in the country, whether they are a negotiating tool or action to prove and cut the United States from global trade,” said Ron Wyden, Democrat in the Senate Finance Committee.
“In the days since Donald Trump announced the tariffs, the president and his advisers have repeatedly changed their stories about all these questions,” he added.
Analysts say this uncertainty is supported by fear that Trump can easily turn the course again.
“We have the impression that what Trump says every day can change based on whom the last person he spoke to,” Sobel said. “So maybe he’s been talking to Bessent lately, but maybe he’ll talk to Navarro tomorrow.”
