Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is reportedly looking for a way out of the Trump administration following the Republican president’s disastrous tariff rollout damaged his “credibility,” alleged MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle on Friday.
“Some [sources] have said to me, he’s looking for an exit door to try to get himself to the Fed, because in the last few days he’s really hurting his own credibility and history in the markets,” said Ruhle on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
Bessent has inadvertently become the face of Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement on Wednesday—which slapped a universal 10 percent tariff on all U.S. imports as well as “reciprocal” tariffs on 180 countries. The announcement sent stock futures plummeting, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average logging its worst day since 2020, reported Investor’s Business Daily.
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Ruhle suggested that Bessent, who built his $521 million fortune managing massive hedge funds, can’t stomach Trump’s “absurd tariff math,” which some critics have slammed as a “kindergarten-level understanding” of international trade.
According to Ruhle’s sources, Trump is “not listening” to his treasury secretary, “the odd man out” in the president’s inner circle.
She added, “[Bessent] actually understands how the markets work and, what’s happening right now, is only going to hurt markets.”
Trump has wielded tariffs as form of economic revenge, claiming Wednesday that the U.S. has been “looted, pillaged, raped, plundered” by other nations for decades.
Bessent’s tone has been far more reserved. He called the use of sweeping tariffs “maximalist” positions in October 2024 when he was an economic adviser in Trump’s campaign.
“It’s escalate to de-escalate,” Bessent told the Financial Times at the time.
In the run up to the tariff rollout, Bessent echoed this posture, warning countries not to retaliate.
“Sit back, take it in, let’s see how it goes. Because if you retaliate, there will be escalation. If you don’t retaliate, this is the high-water mark,” he said Wednesday.
But on Friday, China announced a retaliatory 34 percent tariff on all U.S. imports, sending stocks nose diving again.
Ruhle, a former Wall Street executive, said actual support for the tariffs is thin even among Trump’s business backers: “I cannot find one single investor with one single argument that makes sense for these tariffs. All I’m getting is, well, this is what the president thinks. This is what he’s always wanted to do,” she said.
