Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended the impact of President Trump’s tariffs on U.S. manufacturing jobs, as leaders in the industry call for an end to the tariffs, arguing it’s “been a couple of months.”

Since April, manufacturing jobs have fallen by 12,000 and are now down by 42,000. Businesses have complained for months since Trump announced sweeping tariffs that they are slowing the economy. However, during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Bessent argued that not enough time has passed for the U.S. to see the benefits of tariffs on manufacturing jobs.

“It’s been a couple of months. And with the manufacturing sector…we can’t snap our fingers and have factories built,” he said.

He added that the U.S. is seeing a “record amount of investment intentions.”

“The ‘One Big Beautiful Bill,’ which has full expensing for factories and equipment, was passed on July 4th,” he continued. “Many companies were holding back then. So, we are going to see construction jobs. And we are going to see manufacturing jobs.”

When host Kristen Welker brought up former President Biden’s jobs report, saying he added manufacturing jobs while Trump has been losing them, Bessent argued, “We need good data.”

“What we are seeing is the jobs that are being created are going to either native-born or legal Americans,” he said. “Most of the jobs created under the Biden administration went to illegal aliens.”

“That’s the facts,” Bessent added when Welker said there would be debate over his statement.

Manufacturing jobs fell by 12,000 and are now down by 42,000 since April, a month after Trump announced his tariffs.

Trump has justified the new taxes by arguing that they will help to reinvigorate U.S. manufacturing and create domestic jobs. The president argued that the country will export more products manufactured in the U.S. and also sell more domestic products.