Trump's biggest booster at Davos 2026 was unquestionably U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

U.S. President Donald Trump had a great time at Davos this year. Guests waited in line for over an hour to see his highly-attended speech. Even some of Trump’s staunchest critics were forced to admit he made some good points.

Even if they would have said it all a bit more politely.

Trump managed to upstage his (possibly?) top political rival, California Governor Gavin Newsom.

But no one made more of an impression than U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.

The President’s chief financial mastermind spoke frankly with attendees at Davos and he was keen to defend his boss. And take a bit of a victory lap on the subject of the dreaded tariffs.

“This morning, I want to address a topic of great important to President Trump, America First Trade, and the ways it is transforming our world,” began Mr. Bessent. “America First does not mean America alone, but free trade should be fair trade.”

“Parallel prosperity extends beyond the United States,” promised Bessent. “It is a global rebalancing that the President has shouldered for the benefit of all, especially the American people. A rebalancing of international trade was long overdue. And with the numbers we’ve seen, rebalancing must continue. The data indicate that this rebalancing is underway in the United States. The United States international trade deficit is narrowing at an unprecedented pace.”

“In October, the trade gap declined by 39% month over month, reaching its lowest level since 2009,” bragged Bessent gamely. “Exports increased nearly 3% to an all time high, while imports declined by 3%. Their lowest level since early 2024. This reflects an increased competitiveness of US production. Our world is both safer and more prosperous when America is strong with a robust industrial base and a vibrant economy.”

“Since President Trump took office, inflation-adjusted goods output has grown at an annual rate exceeding 9%,” added Bessent. “The strongest non-pandemic expansion in more than a decade. America’s CapEx boom is underway. Manufacturing investment has accelerated, capacity utilization has increased, and reshoring activity continues to expand across multiple sectors.”

“As a result, productivity growth, the ultimate determinant of rising living standards, is surging,” he went on. “In the process, real blue collar wages are increasing at one of the fastest rates to start a new administration on record. President Trump has created a true blue collar boom, but he has also rebalanced the international order for the betterment of all, even for those of you who are not American.”

“Last week, G7 finance ministers plus other participants, including India, South Korea, Mexico, and Australia, gathered in the Treasury building with me to discuss the need for diversifying critical mineral supply chains,” Bessent explained. “Years of failed policies have fostered a situation in which supply chains have become highly concentrated and vulnerable to both disruption and manipulation. President Trump’s leadership is tending to these vulnerabilities.”

“And as we assume leadership of the G20, our agenda is one that we wish not just for ourselves, but for all of our allies,” Bessent promised before delivering his best line: “Grow, baby, grow.”

“Growth is the only path out of this mountain of debt, and we can only grow together by expanding trade that is fair,” he said. “And thanks to President Trump, America’s First approach to rebalancing global trade, we all have the opportunity to do so.”

Asked about Greenland, Mr. Bessent had the following to say: 

“The President obviously believes that national security is economic security, economic security is national security. And we’re not putting a 10% tariff on Greenland. We’re putting a 10% tariff on the eight countries that chose to send troops to Greenland. I mean, for those countries to activate their troops, I’m not sure what signal that’s supposed to send.

It seems pretty exotic to me. So President Trump has made it clear that we will not outsource our national security or our hemispheric security to any other countries. Our partner, the UK, is letting us down with the base on Diego Garcia, which we had shared together for many, many years, and they want to turn it over to Mauritius. So President Trump is serious here.

Just as I said, after Liberation Day last year, I would tell everyone, take a deep breath. Do not have this reflexive anger that we’ve seen and the bitterness. Why don’t they sit down, wait for President Trump to get here and listen to his argument because I think they’re going to be persuaded.”

Asked again about Greenland, Bessent was unwavering: 

“I think that we are asking our allies to understand that Greenland needs to be part of the United States. And just a little history lesson, the United States bought the U.S. Virgin Islands from Denmark during World War I. And I will remind everyone, I will remind everyone that Denmark remained neutral during World War I.

They actually sold quite a bit to the Germans, but the Danish understood then the importance of the U.S. Virgin Islands. They were worried about the German ramifications if the war spread to the Caribbean and the U.S. needed the U.S. Virgin Islands. They wanted a calm Caribbean after purchasing the Panama Canal from the French.”

The U.S. Treasury Secretary also had some harsh words for EU elites over the Ukraine war.

“I will point out that the EU four years into the Ukraine-Russia conflict continues to fund the Russian war machine by buying cheap Russian oil,” said Mr. Bessent. “In 2018, President Trump warned the Europeans, ‘Do not build Nord Stream 2. Do not buy Russian oil.’ And guess what funded, guess what gave Vladimir Putin the war chest to fund this war? The European purchases of Russian oil.”

(Contributing writer, Brooke Bell)