Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press" this morning, expressing strong confidence that "in the coming months, inflation is going to come down," while vigorously defending the Trump administration's efforts to combat the cost of living.
Moderator Kristen Welker challenged the Secretary on persistent high grocery prices, citing recent increases like coffee (up 19% from a year ago), beef (up almost 15%), and bacon (up almost 6%), and asking when President Trump's promise of relief would materialize.
Secretary Bessent pushed back on the focus on specific items, accusing Welker of "cherry picking."
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"When we came in, it was eggflation, eggflation, eggflation. You know, egg prices are down. Gasoline prices are down," Bessent countered. "Overall, the inflation since President Trump has come in has come down. We inherited this terrible affordability crisis from the Biden administration."
Bessent highlighted recent positive signs in the economic data, noting that the most recent overall inflation number was "below the consensus number." He stressed that core inflation was at 0.2%, "which was the lowest it's been in a long time," and that "rents are coming down."
Welker pressed further, pointing out that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has been higher in the past three months than in the first five months of the year, asking, "If President Trump's economic policies are working, why is inflation up? Why are those grocery prices that I just mentioned... up?"
The Secretary reiterated his claim of cherry-picking, acknowledging a temporary rise but emphasizing a prior success: "inflation actually had a drop, the first drop in four years, in March and April under President Trump."
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He maintained his optimistic outlook, stating, "I am confident that as we've come into the coming numbers that we will see a drop in inflation back towards the Fed's 2% target."
Bessent pre-emptively addressed potential criticism regarding the impact of tariffs, stating that imported goods prices have "actually been quite flat or dropped" and that current inflation is mostly driven by service goods. He also pointed to a technical factor in the report: "investment management income," which he said goes up "because the stock market goes up, so management fees are higher."
The interview concluded with the Treasury Secretary standing by the administration's policy trajectory and assuring the public that relief from high prices is imminent.
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