Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent’s Remarks Before the Economic Club of Dallas - Economic Security First | U.S. Department of the Treasury
Secretary Statements & Remarks
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent’s Remarks Before the Economic Club of Dallas - Economic Security First
February 20, 2026
Good afternoon and thank you. I would like to thank Ray Washburne, Michael Levy, and the entire leadership of the Economic Club of Dallas for hosting me today.
As the business leaders of this community, you all know better than anyone that Dallas is a city built by risk-takers, created by a hydrocarbon base now stacked with Fortune 500 headquarters, and sustained by the simple conviction that prosperity follows production.
Texas reflects what a diversified economy looks like, with strength in sectors ranging from advanced manufacturing to technology to finance. We need look no further than “Y’All Street” to see that Parallel Prosperity is alive and well right here in Dallas, one of the fastest-growing financial hubs in the country.
In many respects, Texas embodies what this Administration is working to build nationally: economic security rooted in production, resilience, and long-term, durable growth. And in that sense, Texas can serve as a model to the rest of the United States.
Economic security is the foundation that allows a country to fulfill its most basic obligation of safeguarding its people. For a nation to be economically secure, it must possess the productive capacity to withstand shocks, deter adversaries, and deliver rising prosperity to its citizens.
Unfortunately, past Administrations lost sight of this fundamental truth, allowing faux efficiency gains and short-sighted profit-obsession to eclipse security resilience and long-term value. President Trump saw the points of failure decades ago, and he has made clear that we cannot compromise on economic sovereignty, accept structural vulnerabilities, or allow strategic industries to erode as the result of outdated or misguided assumptions. At President Trump’s direction, our Administration has therefore made economic security the centerpiece of our economic policy.
Today, I will share our strategy for putting America First by re-prioritizing economic security, which rests on three pillars:
First: Industrial and Technological Dominance.
Second: Investment in America.
Third: Preparedness.
From the earliest days of the Republic, our Founding Fathers understood that independence required economic security. The ability to produce essential goods, sustain public credit, and foster domestic industry was seen as the foundation of sovereignty by Alexander Hamilton. And it still is.
After the World Wars, the United States made deliberate concessions in trade and industrial policy to help allies rebuild and defend against the threat of Communist expansion. Those decisions contributed to decades of global stability and growth, but with a tradeoff. As markets became freer, they did not become fairer.
With the “China Shock” of the 21 st century, strategic industries were hollowed out, supply chains consolidated overseas, and we became wholly dependent on single foreign suppliers within certain sectors. In just over a decade between 1999 and 2011, the United States lost nearly six million manufacturing jobs. That led to not only employment loss and wage depression, but also to diminished productive capacity and resilience.
A nation that cannot produce the critical goods and resources to sustain itself is exposed and vulnerable to coercion. And the COVID-19 pandemic fully exposed these vulnerabilities on the world stage for our own people, and our adversaries, to witness.
This Administration is encouraging American companies to reduce single points of failure by diversifying their production and, importantly, bring critical outputs back to the United States.
Our policies have compelled firms to reassess their sourcing strategies and pour trillions in new investment back into American manufacturing and strategic sectors. Historic trade agreements have begun resetting the global trade paradigm. And over time, diversified supply chains also reduce inflationary volatility by lowering the risk of sudden disruption. One year into the President’s second term, we are already seeing – and will continue to see – results.
Industrial might and technological dominance are mutually dependent and reinforcing, which is why the U.S. must maintain its technological edge.
The global economy is undergoing a period of rapid transformation with breakthrough advances in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and advanced manufacturing. The countries that adopt and deploy these technologies most effectively will shape the next era of growth, and the world is counting on America to lead as we always have.
For 250 years, American innovation has been our decisive advantage. We are in an existential battle to maintain and accelerate technological dominance. The production and development of AI infrastructure will be crucial to both economic growth and national security in this next industrial revolution.
Beyond production, leadership in AI adoption is another crucial component of economic security. At Treasury, through the Financial Stability Oversight Council, we are working with regulators and industry leaders to further responsible AI use in the financial system. We are optimizing regulation for growth: moving from a posture focused solely on constraint toward one that recognizes that failure to adopt productivity-enhancing technology is itself a risk.
Stablecoins represent another area where leadership matters. A well-regulated, dollar-based stablecoin market can reinforce the global role of the U.S. dollar and extend its network effects into emerging digital payment systems. The GENIUS Act provides Treasury with oversight tools to ensure transparency and confidence in this sector.
Industrial capacity, technological leadership, and a strong dollar policy taken together form the backbone of U.S. economic sovereignty, which is why they are all fundamental to our strategy.
To deliver industrial, technological, and currency strength requires confidence and capital, which brings us to Pillar Two: Investment in America.
The United States holds a unique position in the global economy with the dollar as reserve currency, a key factor in enabling economic security. Reserve currency status anchors our borrowing costs, deepens capital markets, strengthens sanctions actions, and reinforces American leadership in global finance. This status rests on confidence in our institutions, and critically, in the health of the U.S. Treasury market.
The Treasury market is the foundation of the global financial system as the benchmark risk-free asset, serving as collateral across markets and the channel through which global capital flows into the United States. Preserving the strength, liquidity, and credibility of that market is central to economic security, and it is not something that can be taken for granted.
Investment in America also means ensuring that capital flows to sectors that enhance long-term productivity and strategic resilience. To do so, we are focused on tailoring fit-for-purpose regulation. Over the next six months, Treasury will engage industry, academia, and national security experts to evaluate how supervisory frameworks can better mobilize capital toward sectors critical to national strength — advanced manufacturing, energy infrastructure, semiconductors, and defense innovation.
Economic security also depends on broader participation in wealth creation.
Almost 40 percent of Americans today have no exposure to the U.S. equity market. This means they participate in the world’s greatest economy as workers and producers, but not as owners.
Trump Accounts represent a fundamental rewriting of that arrangement. Under this initiative, every eligible American child will receive a $1,000 Treasury-funded seed investment at birth, invested in a diversified index fund tied to the long-term growth of the U.S. economy. Additional contributions can come from philanthropists, families, employers, and state governments.
The objective is simple: give every child a stake in the American Dream from Day One.
Texas has already demonstrated leadership in advancing this vision. In fact, Texas Senator Ted Cruz authored the precursor to the Trump Accounts provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill, and Texas natives Michael and Susan Dell led the way in philanthropic giving with their historic $6.25 billion donation to top up Trump Accounts for 25 million children.
The President has called on business leaders and philanthropists all around the country to get involved in the initiative, and today, I am calling on the men and women in this room to do the same. Everything is bigger in Texas, and that should also be true for Trump Accounts – because economic security is strongest when it is broadly shared.
The final pillar is preparedness.
Economic security requires not only strength, but resilience in the face of disruption, which means proactive measures to limit disruption from occurring in the first place.
The 1973 Arab oil embargo is a cautionary tale and historic lesson. A geopolitical decision thousands of miles away triggered drastic energy shortages, inflation, economic chaos, and market turmoil here at home. American consumers felt that shock acutely when the price of oil jumped by nearly 300% before the embargo lifted. Equally significant as the pocketbook effect was the geopolitical reckoning: the fact that a foreign power could so fundamentally disrupt the U.S. economy with the stroke of a pen. This is the very definition of a single point of failure.
Today, in my opinion, there are two significant risk frontiers. The first is a major cyber incident disrupting banks, payment systems, or other financial market infrastructures. The second is the fact that even despite reshoring efforts, more than 90 percent of advanced chips are still manufactured in Taiwan.
Creating physical and digital safeguards therefore underpins economic security by preventing geopolitical or operational shocks from mutating into economic disequilibrium and a broader loss of confidence.
In today’s environment, preparedness must also include deterrence.
Preparedness means ensuring that no adversary believes it can hold the American economy hostage or disrupt the well-being of American citizens. Geopolitical risk must be a key factor considered in policy making across agencies, and not treated as an afterthought.
Economic statecraft remains central to our strategy, and as our Administration has reinforced repeatedly, America First does not mean America Alone.
Our economic security is strengthened when the Western Hemisphere is aligned around free-market principles and the rule of law. We are deepening cooperation with partners committed to those principles while working constructively with longstanding allies such as the U.K., Japan, and the EU as they modernize regulatory frameworks and pursue growth.
As the U.S. hosts the G20 this year, we reject the premise of weakened global growth and intend to advance a results-oriented, growth and economic security agenda promoting deregulation, competitiveness, and reciprocal opportunity. This will further our own economic security, and we stand ready to support allies who share these goals.
On the eve of our great nation’s 250th anniversary, we recognize that economic security is foundational to our ability to thrive for the next 250 years.
Under President Trump’s leadership, we are restoring industrial capacity, reinforcing technological leadership, expanding economic opportunity, and strengthening resilience.
We are fundamentally resetting the framework in which the United States participates in the global economy, recognizing that economic security above all else is the foundation of sovereignty and thus the guarantor of prosperity.
Treasury’s mission is clear: to act swiftly and decisively to put America — and America’s economic security — first.
I would like to take a moment to address today’s Supreme Court ruling. President Trump will always put our national security and Americans first. And as I have said before, the President has multiple tools in his toolbox.
Let’s be clear about today’s ruling. Despite the misplaced gloating from Democrats, ill-informed media outlets, and the very people who gutted our industrial base, the Court did not rule against President Trump’s tariffs.
Six Justices simply ruled that IEEPA authorities cannot be used to raise even one dollar of revenue.
This Administration will invoke alternative legal authorities to replace the IEEPA tariffs. We will be leveraging Section 232 and Section 301 tariff authorities that have been validated through thousands of legal challenges.
Treasury’s estimates show that the use of Section 122 authority, combined with potentially enhanced Section 232 and Section 301 tariffs will result in virtually unchanged tariff revenue in 2026.
Thank you.
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