-
Translated by: Shkëlzen Dema
- April 5, 2025 17:15 am
- Share to:
United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has stated that the stock market decline has more to do with the launch of China's DeepSeek artificial intelligence than with the policies of US President Donald Trump.
"For all those who think that the market declines are all based on the president's economic policies, I can tell you that this market decline began with the announcement of the release of the Chinese AI, DeepSeek," Bessent stated during an interview with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson.
"If I were to analyze, and this is the only time I'm going to talk about this... what's happening with the market, I would say it's more of a Mag 7 problem, not a MAGA problem," said Bessent, who ran an investment fund until he was appointed Treasury secretary by Trump.
“Mag7” refers to the stocks of the so-called “Magnificent 7” – the seven best-performing tech stocks that helped propel the stock market before the recent plunge. MAGA refers to Trump’s political slogan “Make America Great Again.”
Bessent is the latest Trump administration official to downplay the market plunge, which has been exacerbated by Trump's announcement Wednesday of a 10% import tax and much higher tariffs on products from many countries. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also downplayed the decline.
Trump himself on Friday reposted a post on social media with the caption "Trump is intentionally driving the market into crisis" and with images of the president pointing to a red downward arrow and signing executive orders at the White House.
At the same time, Bressent also told Carlson that the administration is maintaining a "strong dollar" policy and denied suspicions from some analysts that the tariffs were intended to weaken the dollar and make US products more competitive in global markets.
"Nobody should listen to those in the markets talking about the US dollar except President Trump or me. We are the only ones talking about this administration, the US government on dollar policy," Bessent said.
"We have a strong dollar policy and we are putting in place all the necessary ingredients to ensure that the dollar is strong in the long term," he added.
The dollar has lost nearly 6% of its value against the currencies of major trading partners since Trump's inauguration on January 20.
