Trump’s Three Steps to Economic Growth
His tariffs, tax cuts and deregulation efforts make up a coherent strategy to benefit Main Street.
By Scott Bessent
Trump discusses a jobs report in the Oval Office, March 7. Photo: Chris Kleponis/Bloomberg NewsReaders of this paper know better than anyone: Wall Street has experienced historic success over the last four decades.
Since 1980, the S&P 500 has increased more than 5,500%.
Our capital markets are the envy of the world, and President Trump intends to strengthen them further.
The president recognizes the critical role Wall Street plays in financing the American dream.
But it’s Main Street’s turn to share in the prosperity.
This is the guiding ethos of his bold economic agenda.
He wants to ensure working families aren’t left behind in the next era of economic growth—as many were in the last.
In the first 100 days of his presidency, we have laid the groundwork to rebalance global trade, restore America’s industrial base, and build an economy that allows Wall Street and Main Street to rise together.
To understand the urgency of this economic rebalancing, it’s critical to understand why it is necessary in the first place.
The early 2000s represented the high-water mark of neoliberalism—the “end of history” in which despotism would give way to democracy and free trade.
Not coincidentally, this period also marked China’s rise in global commerce after joining the World Trade Organization in 2001.
Economists David Autor, David Dorn, and Gordon Hanson identified the “China Shock” in a 2016 paper on the uneven effects of trade liberalization: 3.7 million Americans lost their jobs.
Offshoring production to China accounted for 59.3% of U.S. manufacturing job losses, and most of these workers entered long-term unemployment.
Proponents of this wrecking-ball policy argued for making up its losses through wealth redistribution—as if a handout could heal the families and communities shattered by outsourcing.
In the ultimate show of condescension, some academics labeled this the “compensate the losers” strategy.
It failed miserably.
Even though the price of consumer goods declined, the cost of living increased as housing, education and medical-insurance costs soared.
Millions of Americans experienced an absolute decline in real income.
Every leading politician ignored the national rupture caused by globalization, until Donald Trump.
How do you reunite a country divided by trade?
How do you ensure all Americans can succeed going forward, while enhancing national security?
These questions are top of mind for the new administration.
Our economic agenda seeks to answer them.
Mr. Trump intends to usher in the most prosperous decade in American history—but not at the cost of the spiritual degradation of the working class.
The administration has charted a new course for the economy—one that strengthens both the shop floor and the trading floor.
We are doing so in three steps:
First, renegotiating global trade.
Tariffs are an effective tool for balancing international commerce.
They reduce trade barriers in other countries, opening more markets to American producers while also bringing back thousands of manufacturing jobs.
Economic security is national security.
The Covid pandemic exposed vulnerabilities in our supply chain and the risk of relying on other countries for critical manufacturing.
Tariffs can increase our industrial capacity and strengthen our national security by reshoring supply.
They can also raise substantial revenue.
Second, making the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent and adopting the president’s new tax priorities: no tax on tips, overtime and Social Security.
Mr. Trump’s tax reforms will improve the quality of life for Americans harmed by reckless trade policies.
Advancing these reforms and making the 2017 tax cuts permanent will provide individuals and businesses with certainty and build economic momentum.
Workers and small businesses benefited most from Mr. Trump’s first-term pro-growth tax agenda.
The bottom 50% of households saw their net worth increase faster than the top 10%.
The administration is now working closely with Congress to ensure those measures don’t expire at the end of 2025.
The Council of Economic Advisers estimates that failing to extend the Trump tax cuts would cost a median-income family with two children more than $4,000 in take-home pay.
This year’s tax bill will restore 100% expensing for equipment and expand that incentive to new factory construction to accelerate reindustrialization.
The president’s proposed deduction for auto loans on U.S.-made cars will spur more production, jobs and tax relief.
Third, deregulating the economy.
America must build again—not only homes and factories but also semiconductors, power plants, artificial-intelligence data centers and other technologies of the future.
Reawakening our industrial capacity is key to raising employment and wages among the working and middle classes and the only way to compete with China for technological and military supremacy.
For America to build, government needs to get out of the way.
That’s why this administration embraces an ambitious deregulation agenda.
Removing harmful regulations will allay the national debt and result in savings for individuals and businesses.
Mr. Trump has already saved the average family of four $2,100 simply by repealing Biden-era regulations.
In addition to helping Americans save, we want to enhance their access to capital by easing undue compliance burdens on community and other small banks, which play a crucial role on Main Street by providing loans for cars and homes.
Part and parcel of the deregulation agenda is establishing energy dominance.
Energy will fuel our manufacturing renaissance.
The president has declared a national energy emergency, opened 1.53 million acres in Alaska for energy development, and lifted the Biden administration’s pause on liquefied natural gas terminals.
The average price of gasoline is 50 cents lower than a year ago.
Critics of the Trump economic agenda attack individual policies in isolation.
This cherry-picking tactic ignores how these policies are interconnected.
Trade, tax cuts and deregulation aren’t stand-alone measures but interlocking parts of an engine designed to drive economic growth and domestic manufacturing.
Tax cuts and cost savings from deregulation raise real incomes for families and businesses.
Tariffs provide income-tax relief and create incentives for reindustrialization.
Deregulation complements tariffs by encouraging investments in energy and manufacturing.
The engine is already starting.
For the second month in a row, Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report beat expectations, with 177,000 jobs added in April.
More than half a million private-sector jobs have been added since January.
Add to this falling inflation and the first decline in consumer prices since Covid.
This is just the cylinder firing.
The American people should expect to hear the engine humming during the second half of 2025.
With all pistons moving, we’ll see more jobs, more manufacturing, more growth, a more robust national defense, higher wages, lower taxes, less-burdensome regulation, cheaper energy, less national debt and less dependence on China—all while maintaining a strong dollar.
This is how we restore the working class, re-establish the U.S. as an industrial powerhouse, and right the wrongs of lopsided trade policies.
This is how we pave the way for Wall Street’s next 40-year run while making sure Main Street runs alongside it.
This is how we make America great again for all Americans.
Mr. Bessent is U.S. Treasury secretary.
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