US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took the stage at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library this week with a message that was equal parts alarm bell and policy roadmap. His address, titled “While America Slept,” argued that decades of American industrial policy have traded resilience for efficiency, and that the bill is now coming due.
The speech was delivered at the Reagan National Economic Forum on May 28-29, 2026.
Efficiency was the goal, vulnerability was the result
Bessent’s core thesis is straightforward. The US spent decades optimizing supply chains for cost and speed, offshoring production of critical goods in the process. Semiconductors, rare earth minerals, defense components, energy infrastructure: the country’s ability to produce these domestically has eroded to the point where Bessent characterizes it as a strategic vulnerability.
The COVID-19 pandemic made this painfully clear when chip shortages cascaded through every industry from automakers to consumer electronics.
