U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday asked Republicans in Congress to remove a "retaliatory tax" proposal that targets foreign investors from their sweeping budget legislation, as lawmakers struggled to agree on healthcare provisions that are complicating the bill's passage.

The Treasury has asked Congress to scrap a provision in Donald Trump’s flagship budget bill that allows the US government to raise taxes on foreign investments from select countries, reversing a plan that Wall Street warned could roil markets.