U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is scheduled to deliver a speech warning that policy failures have left the U.S. industrial base strategically vulnerable [1].

The address comes as the Trump administration seeks to redefine economic security and reverse long-term trends of industrial decline. By highlighting these gaps, the Treasury Department aims to justify a shift toward more aggressive domestic manufacturing policies.

Bessent will speak Friday, May 31, at the Reagan National Economic Forum in Washington, D.C. [2]. He is expected to argue that decades of bipartisan policy failures have created significant vulnerabilities within the nation's industrial capacity [1].

According to reports, the secretary intends to describe a period where the U.S. was effectively "asleep" on economic security [1]. He will likely outline how the current administration is working to wake the country up and strengthen the domestic industrial base to prevent future strategic risks [1].

The speech is designed to showcase the administration's efforts to address these long-standing gaps [3]. By framing the issue as a bipartisan failure, the Treasury Secretary positions the current policy direction as a necessary correction to ensure national stability [1].

This appearance at the Reagan National Economic Forum serves as a platform to signal to markets and policymakers that the administration views industrial capacity not just as an economic metric, but as a pillar of national security [2].

“Decades of bipartisan policy failures have left the United States strategically vulnerable.”

This speech signals a formal pivot toward industrial policy as a core component of national security. By attributing industrial decline to bipartisan failures, the administration creates a narrative justification for interventionist economic policies aimed at repatriating manufacturing and reducing reliance on foreign supply chains.