Bessent Says He Doesn’t ‘Put Much Credence’ in Moody’s Downgrade

Treasury secretary said that growing the economy faster is more important than ’the potential growth of the debt.’

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks during a news conference in Geneva on May 12, 2025. Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on May 18 that he is not worried about Moody’s recent downgrade of the United States’ Aaa credit rating to Aa1, and defended President Donald Trump’s tariffs and his sweeping tax cut bill.

Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union with Jake Tapper” on May 18, Bessent said Trump’s bill, which would extend the 2017 tax cuts under the president’s first term, would surge a level of economic growth.

Bessent said that growing the economy faster is more important than “the potential growth of the debt.”

“So we’ve been trying to bring down the spending, and we are going to grow the revenue side. So we are going to grow the [gross domestic product] faster than the debt grows, and that will stabilize the debt-to-GDP [ratio],” he said.

Some Republican lawmakers are concerned that the bill does not do enough to address the growing debt. The United States currently owes $36.2 trillion.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget projects that the current bill would add $3.3 trillion to the national debt, including interest, or “$5.2 trillion if its temporary provisions are made permanent.”

Moody’s Downgrade

On May 16, Moody’s Ratings downgraded the United States’ long-term credit rating from Aaa to Aa1, citing sustained rising debt, growing interest payments, and a lack of political action to rein in chronic budget deficits.

“Successive US administrations and Congress have failed to agree on measures to reverse the trend of large annual fiscal deficits and growing interest costs,” it said in its May 16 statement.

The move stripped the nation of its last perfect credit rating among the three major agencies.

Bessent said on May 18 that he does not “put much credence” in the Moody’s downgrade.

“[In] the history of rating agencies, by the time they get to a downgrade, everything’s already in the market,” he said. “What I think is important is that President Trump has just come back from this historic Middle East trip, and there’s trillions of dollars coming into the U.S. So we are seeing confidence from investors.”

Tariffs Will Return to Reciprocal Levels Without Deals

Trump has implemented a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs to a large group of U.S. trading partners so that each nation can work with the United States to make long-term trade deals.

“[The president has] put them on notice that if you do not negotiate in good faith, you will ratchet back up to your April 2 level,” Bessent said.

The United States is particularly focused on codifying deals with 18 trading partners, he said.

“There are a lot of smaller trading relationships that we can just come up with a number. My other sense is that we will do a lot of regional deals—’this is the rate for Central America, this is the rate for this part of Africa,'” Bessent said.

In a recent earnings call, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said the retail giant will likely need to increase its prices as the impacts from new tariffs materialize.

“Given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we aren’t able to absorb all the pressure, given the reality of narrow retail margins,” he said.

Bessent expressed optimism on May 18. “I am confident that at the end of these negotiations, both the retailers, the American people, and the American workers will be better off,” he said.

Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.