U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently gave a brilliant speech at the 2026 Reagan National Economic Forum, where he outlined how globalism has weakened the United States, robbed the nation of its national sovereignty and made it economically vulnerable by outsourcing its industry to far-away countries.

America became complacent, misinterpreting comfort as strength. The country prioritized efficiency over resilience and consumption over production, ignoring the consequences of shutting down domestic factories and relying on overseas goods as a measure of prosperity.

Assumptions about reliable supply chains and responsible behavior from adversaries left the nation vulnerable. The key principle lost was that economic security equals national security. It allowed the U.S. to lose its ability to produce critical goods, which undermines sovereignty and national strength, Bessent said.

The remedy to this globalist catastrophe is outlined in the seismic shift in national policy that is happening under the current Trump administration. The United States is now returning to the historic American System of national sovereignty, a nation state that serves the interests of its citizens, not only the interests of a globalist, free-trade billionaire class. It is an economic model that emphasizes manufacturing, production capacity, traditional values, protective tariffs and industrial policy as foundational to national sovereignty.

The American System, an economic philosophy developed by Alexander Hamilton, advanced by Abraham Lincoln and William McKinley, was the foundation upon which the United States, the most powerful industrial nation in history, was built. It was suppressed for over a century, explains Susan Kokinda in a PBD podcast.

Globalism in its current Western form may be defined as the post-war economic order based on free trade, open borders, a rules-based system – the liberal economic concept hypothesizing that free markets automatically regulate themselves effectively – prioritizing consumption over production. This approach led to the rise of China as well as its partner, the Western billionaire class, who now own almost everything at the expense of the working and middle class in the West.

Under globalism, the Western working class has been systematically impoverished. Skyrocketing profits have befallen the capital elites in a historic wealth transfer to the richest among us, many with tax-haven registered companies to evade taxes to any specific nation. They have been the beneficiaries of the outsourcing of jobs to low-cost countries, with no requirements of any form of redistribution back to U.S. citizens who lost their opportunities.

“The truth is that for too long, America had been asleep. … We told ourselves that so long as goods were cheaper overseas, it did not matter whether factories went dark in Michigan, Ohio or Pennsylvania. We assumed supply chains would always function smoothly, adversaries would always behave responsibly, and the invisible hand would correct vulnerabilities that too few in public life had the courage to confront,” Bessent stated.

“Somewhere along the way, we lost sight of a principle that previous generations understood instinctively: Economic security is national security, for a nation that cannot manufacture, mine, ship or refine its needs gradually cedes its strength and sovereignty to others. That is a dangerous dependency for any country. It is an unacceptable one for the United States. … A nation that relies on a rival for critical inputs, finances the rise of countries that do not share its interests, and allows its own productive base to erode while promising to defend the international order will find, sooner or later, that those two silos collapse into each other,” he pointed out.

President Trump sees this very clearly, Bessent continued, and on Trump’s first day in office he issued the America First Trade Policy memorandum – a directive to Treasury, Commerce, Homeland Security and other agencies that trade now should be regarded as an integral part of the nation’s strategic agenda.

The once-formidable American shipbuilding industry has declined sharply. Warnings from workers, military planners, manufacturers and public health officials about these vulnerabilities were ignored. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed these weaknesses, such as U.S. dependence on foreign suppliers for semiconductors, critical minerals, large-capacity batteries and pharmaceutical ingredients.

The granting of permanent trade relations to China and presence at WTO were sold as steps to level markets, but instead led to American industries competing unfairly against state-led subsidies and market distortions. Trump’s reciprocal tariffs comprise an effort to remove this socialist injustice; the attack on fraud, waste and abuse of public funds is yet another.

America still possesses significant advantages: Leading capital markets, innovative capacity, energy resources, leading universities, an entrepreneurial culture and workforce capable of outbuilding global competitors when conditions are fair. There is certainly hope for the future if the U.S. continues its current trajectory.

Read Hanne’s The Herland Report.