April 25, 2025

Warren Demands Answers on Reports of Secretary Bessent’s Early Leaks of Tariff Policy Decisions to Wall Street

Reports Indicate Secretary Bessent and Other White House Officials Appear To Have Provided Exclusive, Advance Tips About the Trump Administration’s Trade Policy

“You owe Congress and the public an explanation for why you and other White House officials appear to be providing Wall Street insiders secret information on the tariffs, while withholding that information from the public.”

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent following reports that, earlier this week, he provided a room full of Wall Street executives and wealthy investors exclusive, advance tips about the Administration’s trade policy. The letter seeks information on whether Bessent shared nonpublic trade policy tips hours before President Trump’s broader announcement backing down on escalating tariffs against China. The exclusive details may have created the opportunity for insider trading or other financial profiteering by well-connected friends of the Administration. 

According to reporting by Bloomberg, Secretary Bessent had “told a closed-door investor summit Tuesday that the tariff standoff with China cannot be sustained by both sides and that the world’s two largest economies will have to find ways to de-escalate [and] [t]hat de-escalation will come in the very near future.” These remarks were made at a closed private investor event hosted by JP Morgan not open to the media or the public. A few hours later, President Trump publicly echoed Secretary Bessent’s private remarks, causing the stock market to jump.

Another report yesterday indicated that White House officials also gave Wall Street executives non-public information about a potential trade agreement with India.

“It is unclear why these executives would be receiving this information ahead of the public,” wrote the senator.

“Chaos, confusion, economic damage, and opportunities for corruption have become the hallmark of President Trump’s rollout of his tariff policies,” continued the senator. “President Trump’s opaque decision-making on tariffs and frequent, seemingly random changes of course have created a scenario where wealthy investors and well-connected corporations can get special treatment, receiving inside information they can use to time the market, or obtaining tariff exemptions that are worth billions of dollars—while Main Street, small businesses, and America’s families are left to clean up the damage.”

To better understand what information was potentially provided to wealthy investors and Wall Street executives, Senator Warren demanded Secretary Bessent answer the following questions: 

  1. Which individuals attended the JP Morgan event at which you provided remarks on April 22, 2025?

  2. Were your remarks prepared in advance? If so, please provide a copy of any written remarks or notes.

  3. What time did you make your remarks at this conference? How long was the gap between your private comments and the public reports from Bloomberg about their content?

  4. Why was this event closed to the public and the press?

  5. Did the Treasury Department take any actions or make any agreements to prevent individuals in attendance from making trades or other investment decisions based on these private remarks?

  6. When you made your remarks at this conference, were you aware that the President would, later that day, announce that tariffs would “come down substantially”? 

  7. Did Treasury or White House officials provide non-public information to Wall Street executives on a potential trade deal with India?

  8. If so, which individuals provided this information, and to whom did they provide it?  Why was this information not provided to the public?

  9. Have Treasury Department or White House officials provided any other insiders with non-public information about the status of potential tariff decisions or trade agreements? 

Due to the serious nature of these allegations, Senator Warren requested a response to her questions by May 8, 2025.

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