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Scott Bessent: “I strongly disagree with that [US lead in AI is over].”

Featuring: Scott Bessent, Republican | Secretary of the Treasury | National

Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent

Published April 14, 2026 | Video Starts at 24:37

All I keep hearing about is the AI apocalypse for jobs. So I don't know if we should. Not from us. Well, not, not from you, but the. From others. … I strongly disagree with that [US lead in AI is over]. … Well, is it going to be a net negative for the labor force? No. Look in the history. I am mercifully not an economist. I'm an economic historian. (24:37–24:41)

CLAIM

Asserts disagreement with the claim that the US lead in AI is over.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Scott Bessent

“UAE, I think, has taken over 1200 hits and Saudi the same.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 03:10-03:18
“Section 301 [of trade policy] has survived more than 5,000 legal challenges.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 07:31-08:09
“The Fed was losing $100 billion a year because they purchased so much.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 14:50-14:57
“The precursors for 80 or 90% of US medicines come from India and China.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 17:43-17:50
“The US is going to have 70 or 80% of the global computing power [in a few years].”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 20:56-21:07
“90% of the high value chips are still made on the island of Taiwan.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 21:33-21:39
“Since last March, the president gave the order for maximum pressure campaign and we started pressuring the Iranian assets around the world.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 01:08-01:20
“In December [the pressure campaign] culminated in one of their major banks going under.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 01:23-01:29
“The central bank had to print money. Large inflation and then the riots that we saw out on the street.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 01:28-01:35
“We are partnering with our Gulf allies who having been fired upon for almost 40 days.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 01:48-01:59
“We are reaching out to banks, including Chinese banks, to remind them that any Iranian goods and the purchases that are of are forbidden.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 02:09-02:32
“We will press for secondary sanctions if there's a problem.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 02:28-02:32
“I believe that there's been a real step, function change in their [Gulf countries'] willingness to tolerate their neighbor.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 02:43-02:56
“The Chinese are trying to create a [currency] to push the US out of it.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 04:12-04:17
“Core inflation continues to come down and headline is just influenced by energy prices and those will come down.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 06:09-06:20
“I do think that the growth could easily exceed three, three and a half this year.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 06:21-06:31
“Boeing...is going to expand their Dreamliner facility by 50%.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 09:29-09:37
“38% of American households don't own stocks or have any participation in the equity market.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 10:24-10:31
“I think Senator Tillis believes that Kevin Warsh is an excellent candidate.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 12:31-12:36
“It is very difficult to get to a much smaller [Fed] balance sheet from here.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 13:27-13:33
“We have great stability in the [US-China] relationship.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 15:33-15:37
“The President always asked for more AG purchases.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 16:18-16:22
“The Chinese were not reliable suppliers [during COVID].”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 17:20-17:27
“We do believe that the Chinese imbalances are getting excessive.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 17:55-18:01
“Our trade deficit with China is down substantially.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 18:08-18:13
“We are three to six months ahead [of China in AI].”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 20:02-20:10
“The Biden chips act. No money went out the door. Nothing, nothing was created.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 21:39-21:47
“Big facilities being built in Arizona, but it's a big ecosystem.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 22:12-22:17
“There are a lot of unfortunate aspects to the Biden, the open borders, but I think one of them is the backlash against all immigration…”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 23:08-23:21
“There are a lot of aspects of the H1B system that are not robust. Some would call it a scam, and those are not high value jobs.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 23:21-23:34
“I don't believe that AI is going to take people's jobs. I think people who know how to use AI is going to take people's jobs.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 24:38-24:44
“In the history of economies, innovation always leads to more jobs.”
Paul Gigot in Conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent | Uploaded April 14, 2026 | 24:55-25:01