Trade

Milken Crowd Warms Up to Tariffs While Condemning All the Chaos

Scott Bessent speaks at the 28th annual Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, on May 5. — Scott Bessent speaks at the 28th annual Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, on May 5.
Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images

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By Dawn Lim, Sonali Basak, and Daniel Flatley

May 5, 2025 at 9:48 PM UTC

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Scott Bessent walked on stage at the largest gathering in months of Wall Street’s champions of global trade, aiming to explain why President Donald Trump is putting up hurdles to global trade.