Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent used economic game theory to defend President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff plan, while admitting it could be months before the U.S. reaches trade deals with some of its major partners.
“Strategic uncertainty is part of negotiation. Should we say, ‘Oh, here’s what we’ll accept, please take this’?” Bessent said in response to questions from progressive Rep. Mark Pocan on small businesses hit by tariffs.
Bessent called on members to trust Trump’s mysterious dealmaking prowess.
Bessent told members some major trade deals could be announced by the end of this week, but gave a much longer timeline to complete the rest of the deals, well beyond Trump’s 90-day tariff pause set to expire July 9.
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“Approximately 97 or 98% of our trade deficit is with 15 countries,” Bessent said. “I would be surprised if we don’t have more than 80 or 90% of those wrapped up by the end of the year, and that may be much sooner. I would think that perhaps as early as this week we will be announcing trade deals with some of our largest trading partners.”
There are 18 key trading partners, and the U.S. is in active negotiations with 17 of them, according to Bessent. However, there are no ongoing negotiations with China.
As he walked out of the hearing Tuesday, Bessent stayed silent in response to questions from reporters about what will happen after the tariff pause expires.
“When you use the ‘crazy uncle argument,’ I usually don’t like to have that described in presidents,” Pocan told NOTUS after the hearing. “People across the country are paying a tax every time these tariffs are thrown out indiscriminately, and that’s part of the problem.”
The hearing marked one of the first opportunities for Congress to publicly question Bessent since his confirmation hearing. Republicans also pressed Bessent on the “X date” — the day the Treasury will hit the debt ceiling and be unable to make good on its obligations — but he didn’t give a firm answer.
Bessent said Treasury is still processing numbers from the April 15 tax filing day, but he did give an ominous warning.
“I will tell you just as an outfielder running for a fly ball, we are on the warning track, and if we are on the warning track, it means the ball is not far away.”
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the X date will come late summer, while the Bipartisan Policy Center has put it as early as mid-July.
But despite his warning, Bessent also reiterated a key promise: “The United States government will never default. We will raise the debt ceiling, and Treasury will not use any gimmicks. We will make sure the debt ceiling is raised.”
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Claire Heddles is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
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