WASHINGTON, May 5 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary

Scott Bessent on Monday said President Donald Trump's tariff,

tax-cut and deregulation agenda would work together to drive

long-term investment to the U.S. economy, adding that U.S.

financial markets were "anti-fragile" and would weather any

short-term turbulence.

Bessent, in prepared remarks to the Milken Institute Global

Conference in Los Angeles, delivered a full-throated defense of

Trump's tariffs but emphasized the Republican tax bill working

its way through Congress, saying it would make many parts of the

president's first-term tax cuts permanent, including a deduction

for small businesses.

"The primary components of the Trump economic agenda -

trade, tax cuts, and deregulation - are not standalone policies.

They are interlocking parts of an engine designed to drive

long-term investment in the American economy," Bessent said.

Bessent said that Trump's tariff blitz since taking office

for a second time on January 20 was engineered to encourage

companies like those attending the conference to invest in the

U.S., build factories and make products in the U.S.

This effort will be rewarded with tax and deregulation

benefits. Bessent said Trump's tax legislation would provide tax

credits and deductions for research and innovation into

high-tech operations, restore 100% expensing for equipment while

expanding this benefit to new factory construction to accelerate

investment.

"The result of the president's economic plan will be more.

More jobs, more homes, more growth, more factories, more

critical manufacturing plants, more semiconductors, more energy,

more opportunity, more defense, more economic security, more

innovation," Bessent said.

But the Treasury chief said U.S. financial markets were

well equipped to weather any short-term turbulence, citing their

rebound from challenges over the past century, including the

Great Depression, two World Wars, the September 11, 2001,

attacks, the 2008-2009 global financial crisis, the COVID-19

pandemic and the subsequent surge in inflation.

"Each time the American economy gets knocked down, it gets

back up again. And it gets back up even stronger than it was

before, Bessent said. "U.S. markets are anti-fragile. Indeed,

the entirety of our economic history can be distilled in just

five words: 'Up and to the right.'"