US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent offered clarification on President Donald Trump's recent remarks regarding the H-1B visa reforms, indicating a more balanced stance by the administration. He explained that the vision of Trump is to leverage “skilled foreign talent” to help train American workers before they return to their home countries.
In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday (local time), Bessent labelled Trump's approach a "home run", saying that it aligns with the president's goal of bringing industries such as semiconductors back to the US without disrupting long-term employment goals of the nation.
He further noted that, although the administration prioritises American jobs, it acknowledges the short-term need for foreign expertise in critical sectors like defence, shipbuilding, and semiconductors. "For 20, 30 years, we have offshored precision manufacturing jobs. And the President's point here is we can't snap our fingers and say 'you're going to learn how to build ships overnight.' We want to bring the semiconductor industry back to the US," Fox News quoted Bessent as saying.
"The President's vision here is to bring in overseas workers, who have the skills, for three, five, or seven years to train the US workers; then they can go home, and the US workers fully take over," he added.
Trump softens his stance on H-1B visa
The statements of Bessent followed a day after Trump's interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Tuesday, where the President seemed to have softened his decision on his aggressive approach of the administration that pushes reforms in the H-1B visa. He also acknowledged the need to import specialised foreign talent to fill critical roles in the American workforce.
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Defending the value of skilled immigrant workers, Trump argued during the interview that the US cannot simply repurpose long-term unemployed Americans for mixed and complex roles in manufacturing and defence sectors without any extensive training.

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