With rate-hikes increasingly back 'on the table' fort Fed Chair Warsh's 'regime change' last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says that cutting interest rates won't necessarily lead to a weaker dollar - arguing that "you can have a strong dollar when rates are being cut" because if the fed is cutting because inflation is falling, while the economy stays strong - capital keeps flowing in and the dollar holds. Of course, that all depends on why the fed is cutting... Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at the Economic Club of New York, on June 23. Photographer: Krisanne Johnson/BloombergSpeaking on CNBC's Squawk Box on Wednesday, Bessent said the U.S. can return to 3% growth this year, that inflation will fall back to the Federal Reserve's target now that the Iran conflict has eased, and that artificial intelligence is on track to at least double productivity - the recipe for maintaining a strong dollar while cutting rates. He also defended the administration's emerging Iran deal and its handling of frozen Iranian assets.The comments followed a Tuesday night speech at the Economic Club of New York's America 250 gala, where Bessent set out a five-part framework he calls economic statecraft, which he defined as the use of American economic power "in service of our sovereignty."Citing Hamilton's view that a nation "ought to endeavor to possess within itself all the essentials of national supply," he argued that decades of chasing the lowest cost had left the U.S. dependent in areas that matter: semiconductors, AI, quantum computing, advanced manufacturing, shipbuilding, critical minerals and pharmaceuticals. A supply chain, he said, can no longer be judged on price alone, but on whether it survives a crisis, withstands coercion and keeps running through a pandemic or a cyberattack.On the eve of America’s 250th anniversary, the most fitting way to honor those who founded this great nation is to meet the pressing challenges of our own time with the same resolve that they brought to theirs.