US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent [Reuters]
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent [Reuters]

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent issued a stern warning to trade partners Tuesday, calling for stronger economic resilience against supply chain disruptions by hostile powers.

Speaking at the Economic Club of New York on Monday, Bessent said the United States must build sufficient domestic capacity so that "the American people are not subject to the whims of foreign supply chain bottlenecks," adding that the country would "build resilience before a crisis occurs."

However, he drew a line at interpreting supply chain resilience as a call to reshore all production to the United States.

"That doesn't mean we need to source every component domestically from start to finish," Bessent said. "That would be not only impractical but unnecessary."

He stressed the need to examine supply chain vulnerabilities in critical sectors — including military, healthcare, energy and financial systems — but stopped short of naming specific countries or policy directions.

Iran's recent threats to close the Strait of Hormuz and China's controls on rare earth exports are seen as the backdrop to these concerns.

Bessent said past US policy had "encouraged other countries to exploit their leverage over our dependencies," but argued that correcting global imbalances "is not the same as retreating from the world stage."

He added, however, that partner nations must now reckon with "a United States that is more aware of its own interests and more prepared to protect them."

Bessent went further, warning trade partners that they "cannot seek access to the American market while denying access to their own," and that they "cannot adopt industrial policies that exclude American technology while benefiting from American security."

"Partnership with the United States now comes with expectations," he said, "and in some cases, non-negotiable obligations."


mokiya@heraldcorp.com