Market drop a ‘Mag 7’ problem, not a MAGA one, he says in Tucker Carlson interview

By Costas Pitas, Brendan O’Brien

(Reuters) -The stock market plunge has more to do with the emergence this year of China’s DeepSeek artificial intelligence tool than with President Donald Trump’s policies, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview released on Friday that signaled little concern about the ongoing nosedive.

“For everyone who thinks these market declines are all based on the President’s economic policies, I can tell you that this market decline started with the Chinese AI announcement of DeepSeek,” Bessent told conservative commentator Tucker Carlson.

“If I were to analyze in my old hat, and this is the only time I’m going to talk about it … what’s happening with the market I’d say it’s more a Mag 7 problem, not a MAGA problem,” Bessent, who ran a hedge fund until being tapped as Treasury secretary by Trump, said. “Mag 7” refers to the…