Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent 'Completely Aligned' With Elon Musk: Full Interview.

In just two weeks as Treasury chief, Scott Bessent has seen plenty of turbulence. The department became a target of Elon Musk’s crackdown on federal spending — triggering protests outside Bessent’s office — and investors are on edge over President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policies.

Yet in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Thursday, Bessent sought to telegraph a sense of normalcy — and of an administration that’s methodically pursuing its economic goals, including lower taxes and spending, and more balanced trade.

The new Treasury secretary has the kind of financial-market pedigree to run the department that Washington has seen countless times before, and is often used to project assurance. Sitting in the agency’s historic Cash Room, a few hundred yards from the White House, Bessent said America’s strong dollar policy is intact, promised not to preach to the Federal Reserve about interest rates, and insisted that the Treasury payments system — which Musk’s team has gained access to, in a move that shocked Washington — is safe.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent sits down with Bloomberg's Saleha Mohsin. He discusses concerns around DOGE access to Treasury data, US 'strong dollar' policy

and the Treasury's approach to the Fed.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he’d refrain from criticizing the head of the US central bank and that the Trump administration is not focused on the question of whether the Federal Reserve will cut its benchmark policy rate.

The remarks are notable given Trump’s frequent criticism of Fed Chair Jerome Powell during his first presidential term. Then, Trump often called for lower interest rates and explored the possibility of firing Powell.

“Prospectively, monetary policy, I will not comment on, and I’m sure he’s going to do the right thing, so there’ll be no criticism,” Bessent said Thursday in an interview with Bloomberg’s Saleha Mohsin, speaking of Powell.

Fed policymakers left interest rates unchanged when they met Jan. 28-29. Following the decision, Trump didn’t directly criticize the move, but lashed out about the Fed having failed to prevent a spike in inflation following the pandemic.

This week, however, he took a softer approach, calling the Fed’s decision to hold rates “the right thing to do.”

Bessent said Thursday that the Trump administration is focused on policy moves that result in a lower yield on the 10-year US Treasury note, rather than the question of whether the Fed will deliver rate cuts.

“The 10-year, I believe, is the important price to focus on. It’s mortgages. It’s long-term capital formation,” Bessent said.

Bessent also said he’d recently met with Powell.

“I did an away game over at the Fed. We had a very nice breakfast,” Bessent said. “Chair Powell and I don’t know each other well, so it was very constructive.”

Evercore ISI’s Krishna Guha has said Trump’s recent comments may show Bessent’s influence on the president.

“In the near term at least this eases tension between the Fed and the new administration,” Guha wrote in a note to clients.

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