Wall Street gets rude shock as Bessent plays second fiddle on tariffs

From the moment President Donald Trump unveiled his sweeping tariffs Wednesday through the ensuing market mayhem the following day, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s phone lit up with text messages from executives tied to his former industry.

Multiple hedge fund managers and finance executives reached out, seeking his help in swaying Trump on the levies, according to people familiar with the matter. After all, as the former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, Bessent was a potential ally. He was seen as someone who could explain to the president that extreme new levies would damage the economy and continue to wreak havoc on markets.

But, in fact, Bessent wasn’t the primary driver of the tariff announcement, according to a person familiar with the matter. He used his role in Oval Office meetings to lay out potential scenarios for markets and the economy based on different tariff levels, the person said.

The tariffs were largely shaped by a small group within Trump’s inner circle, with critical decisions about the duties’ structure going down to the wire before the president’s announcement. A Treasury spokesperson declined to comment.

Now, Trump’s bid to remake the US economy and boost made-in-America products is at odds with a Wall Street establishment that has profited for decades from the idea that international trade drives the world order. And even some Republican lawmakers are sounding the alarm. 

For the past two days at least, the market carnage that Wall Street feared has come to pass, wiping out $5.4 trillion in value and dragging down the S&P 500 to the lowest level in 11 months. Recession fears are growing around the globe. And executives who had rallied behind the Trump administration’s promises to cut taxes and ease regulation are now contending with an economic agenda that stands to roil their businesses.

Private equity firms are calling off initial public offerings and tempering expectations of a deal comeback that they hoped would help juice fundraising. Hedge funds are weighing whether Trump’s next move is too unpredictable to even wager on. Bank leaders who had forecast a more pro-growth agenda are having to peel back expectations, with JPMorgan Chase & Co. economists predicting a US recession this year.

The market plunge has even caused some of Trump’s most ardent backers in the political world to predict broader fallout: Texas Senator Ted Cruz said tariffs everywhere “would destroy jobs here at home and do real damage to the US economy.” On his podcast, he warned the levies make Republicans vulnerable to a “bloodbath” in 2026 midterms elections.

Trump — who in his first administration paid close attention to the stock market’s performance — has shown that he won’t be easily persuaded to change course by the tariff-induced plunge. He said Friday that the policy will remain and that large corporations are unconcerned by the tariff plan. As markets slid the most in five years, the president was at his West Palm Beach golf club.

Within the administration, the market fallout has caused nervousness, and officials will be eyeing whether the market fallout extends into a third session on Monday. Yet there’s a sense that any shift in policy would have to come from the president alone. And Trump is focused on the long term with tariffs, a person familiar with the matter said. He has stressed the need to revive the US manufacturing base, secure supply chains and reduce reliance on rivals.

“The only special interest guiding President Trump’s decisions is the interest of the American people,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said. “The entire administration is aligned on addressing the national emergency that President Trump has rightfully identified is posed by our country running regular trade deficits.”

Tariff Roll Out 

A Trump adviser who isn’t part of the administration criticized how the levies were rolled out and the White House’s communication strategy as markets were crashing. It should have had teams of economists, business leaders and union workers explaining the plan on TV, this person said.

In the weeks leading up to the tariff announcement, some Wall Street executives had already started to appeal to the Treasury secretary for help. Others went public with their warnings. Citadel founder Ken Griffin repeatedly criticized planned tariffs, saying they would dull the US’s competitive edge, while Warren Buffett called tariffs “an act of war, to some degree.”

Bessent remains a key member of Trump’s economic team, according to an administration official. But senior counselor Peter Navarro and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick dominated the president’s attention on tariffs, said a person close to the matter. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer was also an integral part of the team.

Bessent, in an interview with Bloomberg Television after the tariffs were announced Wednesday, said he wasn’t a part of negotiations with other countries and has been focused on the administration’s tax agenda. 

Private equity firms had seen Trump’s arrival heralding the return of IPOs that had been largely dormant the past three years and looser strictures on attracting wealthy individuals as clients. Instead, this week left them scrambling to determine how portfolio companies would be affected by the tariffs and are nursing painful stock slides. Shares of Apollo and KKR & Co. notched the biggest two-day slumps in their history.

Dealmakers note that some sectors — like domestic manufacturing — could still be poised for big boosts under the Trump administration. But they have expressed concerns to acquaintances that prolonged uncertainty and a slumping market will make it harder to exit bets at the prices they hoped. Already, companies including Klarna Group Plc and StubHub Holdings Inc. have paused their IPOs.

They’ve avoided airing their views publicly for fear of drawing the president’s wrath, and instead are trying to backchannel their concerns through proxies and lobbyists instead.

There are signs of some pushback among Trump loyalists on Capitol Hill as well. Senator Chuck Grassley and three other Republicans co-sponsored a bipartisan bill that intends to bring back tariff power to Congress, requiring approval of most new tariffs within 60 days. Majority Leader John Thune, who ultimately has the power to decide whether to bring the bill up for a floor vote, said he plans to look at the legislation.

“I know there is some interest in it,” Thune said on Friday. He acknowledged that the party was watching Wall Street carefully, and said he hoped they would see results from Trump’s plan “fairly quickly.”

Meanwhile on Saturday — as traders and executives across Wall Street and corporate America were still reeling from the market mayhem — White House aides issued an announcement: Trump had won the second round of the Senior Golf Championship at his Jupiter, Florida club.

He’d be advancing to the championship on Sunday.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com