Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has clarified that the Trump administration’s H-1B policy is not about replacing American workers, but about a “knowledge transfer” to empower them. This follows confusion after Trump himself said the US needs more skilled “talent” from abroad.
Bessent explained that this “talent” will be used in a “train and return” model. Skilled foreign experts will be brought in temporarily, with the mandate to “train American workers.” After a period of “three, five, seven years,” they will be expected to “go home.”
This policy, Bessent argued, is necessary because of a skills gap in critical industries. “An American can’t have that job, not yet,” he said, “Because we haven’t built ships… [or] semiconductors” in the US for years. The foreign experts are needed to teach these skills.
The end goal, which Bessent called a “home run,” is for “US workers [to] fully take over.” The plan is to use “overseas partners” as temporary instructors who will “teach American workers” and then “return home,” leaving a stronger, more capable domestic workforce.
Bessent: H-1B Not for Replacement, But for “Knowledge Transfer”
