Bessent urges G20 members to adopt tariffs to shield domestic industries

At a G20 finance ministers' gathering in Asheville, North Carolina, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged his counterparts to look at the United States’ recent tariff strategy as a model for defending domestic industries from low-cost imports. He recalled warning that the U.S. “tariff wall” would push Chinese products into other markets and said the outcome validates his concerns. Bessent highlighted the need for nations to protect jobs and manufacturing from offshoring, while acknowledging criticism of the policy’s impact on consumer prices.

He noted the Supreme Court’s February decision that declared the prior administration’s broad emergency tariffs unconstitutional, and mentioned a prospective 7.5% duty on Chinese goods tied to excess capacity and forced-labor issues. In a conversation with former Trump adviser Larry Kudlow, Bessent stressed the importance of “de-risking” trade with China without severing ties, and pointed to shared positions on Iran and the Strait of Hormuz. He concluded that despite record global debt levels, bond markets do not face a dire crisis.