On Thursday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced his plan to transform the existing financial regulatory system using the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC). During a speech at the Economic Club of New York, Bessent highlighted that current regulations are overly burdensome for banks, emphasizing the need to address an outdated and flawed regulatory culture. His objective is to tackle these issues not by consolidating regulatory bodies but by utilizing the Treasury Department as a coordinating hub to drive reform.
Bessent stressed the importance of banking regulatory agencies specifically focusing on and reassessing supplementary leverage restrictions to alleviate the burden on banks. He also discussed a broader perspective, mentioning that President Trump has initiated an active movement to rebalance the international economic system.
Echoing Trump’s “America First” policy, Bessent emphasized a long-standing neglect in the design of multilateral trade agreements that must be revisited to align with the interests of the American people. He stated, “This is precisely the issue tariffs aim to address – creating a fair competitive environment that rewards innovation, security, rule of law, and stability within the international trade system, rather than suppressing wages, manipulating currencies, infringing on intellectual property rights, setting up non-tariff barriers, and enforcing stringent regulations.”
During his campaign, Trump promised to prioritize tariffs in his core economic policies and has since announced several tariff measures following his inauguration. Apart from imposing tariffs on China and Canada, starting from April 2, equal tariffs will be imposed on all countries levying tariffs on American products. Currently, Trump has delayed imposing tariffs on Mexico until April 2.