Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: Fired federal workers could fill factory jobs created under Trump

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration is planning to boost U.S. manufacturing jobs by filling them with fired federal workers.

In an interview with Tucker Carlson, Mr. Bessent said President Trump’s tariff plan will create thousands of manufacturing jobs and he believes that the U.S. has enough workers to fill those positions through laid-off federal workers.

“So what we are doing: On one side, the president is reordering trade. On the other side, we are shedding excess labor in the federal government and bringing down federal borrowings,” Mr. Bessent said in the interview posted on X. “And then on the other side, that will give us the labor we need for the new manufacturing.”

The Treasury chief said the combination of tariffs and federal layoffs will transfer economic power away from the government and into the private sector. He also claimed that the U.S. private sector was in recession under the Biden administration.

However, private sector job creation reached record levels under President Biden, including 2.24 million jobs in 2024.

“It’s almost like when a bodybuilder is taking steroids,” Mr. Bessent said. “Outside, it looks great. You’re muscular. Inside, you’re killing our vital organs. That’s what was going on here.”

Mr. Trump last week announced he would impose steep tariffs on virtually all countries that import goods into the U.S. The tariffs have sparked massive stock sell-offs that roiled global markets.

At the same, the Department of Government Efficiency has continued slashing the federal workforce, with hundreds of thousands let go across dozens of agencies. Its efforts have continued unabated despite pushback and the court-directed reinstatement of fired workers.