DES MOINES, IA — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent traveled to Iowa last week to promote the Trump administration’s tax and regulatory agenda, meeting manufacturers, agricultural businesses and bankers as the administration seeks to translate its Working Families Tax Cuts into private investment and expanded access to capital.
Bessent visited Vermeer Corporation’s manufacturing facility in Pella with Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and participated in a roundtable with agriculture and manufacturing executives. The discussions centered on business investment, employment and regulatory costs, according to the Treasury Department.
The administration has positioned the Working Families Tax Cuts as a source of longer-term certainty for companies making capital and hiring decisions.
“President Trump’s Working Families Tax Cuts created the certainty and conditions necessary for durable, private-sector growth,” Bessent stated after the Vermeer visit.
Miller-Meeks said Vermeer employees discussed how the tax law was affecting manufacturing investment and employment in Iowa. The Treasury release did not provide company-specific investment, hiring or tax-savings figures resulting from the legislation.
Bessent separately met Iowa banking executives alongside House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith and Rep. Zach Nunn.
That discussion focused on tax policy, Trump Accounts, financial regulation and access to capital for small businesses. Participants also discussed the administration’s move to permanently end beneficial ownership reporting requirements for millions of small businesses, according to Treasury.
Bessent said the administration is seeking to reduce regulatory burdens on community banks while encouraging them to provide capital to households, entrepreneurs and smaller companies.
The Iowa visit also followed federal guidance allowing employers to contribute to Trump Accounts established for employees or their dependents. Nunn said the framework gives employers another mechanism to help workers save for their children, including through payroll-based contributions.
The Treasury Department characterized the meetings as evidence that the administration’s economic policies are supporting manufacturing and Main Street businesses. Its release, however, did not provide statewide data quantifying investment, job creation or economic growth attributable specifically to the tax law.
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