The US Treasury Department has accelerated a deregulatory push by asking the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) to ease regulations that they claim are strangling economic growth. The move comes as President Trump looks to jump-start economic output ahead of midterm elections next year.
Treasury Secretary Bessent is directing the FSOC to create working groups focused on resilience, household finances, artificial intelligence, and cyberattacks. He argues that financial stability is best achieved through faster economic growth, which is constrained by unnecessary regulations.
The Trump administration has been rolling back regulations around the country, including an executive order to curb state laws on artificial intelligence. Bessent’s deregulatory push mirrors shifts underway at the top banking watchdogs, including a new direction for FSOC that represents a departure from the Biden administration’s focus on bolstering regulations and climate change risks.
Democrats have criticized the Trump administration’s focus on relaxing regulations for Wall Street banks when corporate bankruptcies are rising. The loosening of regulations has been described as the third pillar of Trump’s plan to unleash the nation’s economic potential, but critics argue that it will only result in bubble growth and financial crashes.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/11/us/politics/bessent-regulation.html