U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday laid out the Trump administration’s ambitions to reshape international trade relations with tariffs, roll back financial regulations on American banks, and use sanctions to collapse Iran’s economy. President Donald Trump has begun an "aggressive campaign to rebalance the international economic system," Bessent told the Economic Club of New York. "The American Dream is rooted in the concept that any citizen can achieve prosperity, upward mobility, and economic security. For too long, the designers of multilateral trade deals have lost sight of this." In regard to Iran, he said the new administration would exert a campaign of maximum pressure of sanctions to choke off its oil exports and put pressure on its currency. "Making Iran broke again will mark the beginning of our updated sanctions policy," Bessent said. Over the past six weeks, Trump has undertaken a massive shift in priorities and direction on both the global and domestic stage. His international trade policy on Thursday continued to evolve after he gave Canada and Mexico a one-month reprieve on 25% tariffs imposed earlier this week on any goods that fall under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade.
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