Treasury Chief: We May Need 'Detox' on Economy

It's not a word typically applied to the economy, and it may not thrill Wall Street investors. But Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Friday that the nation's economy may be in need of a "detox."

• "Look, there's going to be a natural adjustment as we move away from public spending to private spending," he said on Squawk Box. "The market and the economy have just become hooked. We've become addicted to this government spending, and there's going to be a detox period."

President Trump's administration has been reducing the federal workforce and, as Bloomberg puts it, shifting the "basis for growth away from the government and toward the private sector." Bessent maintains that growth under predecessor Joe Biden was artificially boosted by government spending, and he predicts potential turbulence as this ends. He spoke as the stock market headed toward its worst weekly close since September, with investors seemingly rattled by the president's back-and-forth moves on tariffs. (More Scott Bessent stories.)