Key Takeaways
- Treasury Secretary Bessent plans to lower interest rates to aid struggling Americans with high borrowing costs.
- Plans to deregulate banking and expand energy production aim to reduce costs and enhance US export capabilities.
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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to tackling inflation and making life more affordable for Americans. Speaking in an interview with Fox & Friends on Tuesday, Bessent detailed the administration’s economic priorities, including efforts to lower interest rates.
🇺🇸 JUST IN: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent states, “We are committed to lowering interest rates.” pic.twitter.com/roPcecaL85
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Mortgage rates have declined “dramatically” since Election Day and the inauguration, Bessent said. He attributed this trend in part to upcoming bank deregulation.
Bessent emphasized that the administration aims to lower interest rates to help Americans struggling with high borrowing costs, particularly those in the bottom 50% of income earners who have been “crushed by these high interest rates” over the past two years.
According to him, lower interest rates would not only benefit homeowners but also help ease credit card and auto loan costs, which have disproportionately affected low-income Americans.
“So we’re set on bringing interest rates down and I think that’s one of the greatest accomplishments so far,” Bessent said.
While inflation is easing, Bessent noted that costs for essential goods, housing, and insurance remain high, largely due to excessive regulations imposed by the previous administration.
“There’s affordability and then there’s inflation. Inflation is slowing, still not back to the Fed’s target area. Affordability is this massive spike that we saw over the past two and four years,” said Bessent when asked how affordability could affect inflation.
“We’re going to try to bring the prices back down,” said Bessent, noting that deregulation is key to addressing costs across sectors like insurance and housing.
“There’s several thousand dollars of administrative burdens every year, and if we can cut that red tape and bring that down, then that’s an excellent start on the affordability,” Bessent said.
The administration’s tariff policies were another key focus of Bessent’s remarks. New tariffs—10% on all Chinese imports and 25% on imports from Mexico and Canada—went into effect this week, sparking market reactions.
While some analysts fear potential price hikes, Bessent expressed confidence that Chinese manufacturers will absorb the tariffs rather than passing costs onto American consumers.
“On the China tariffs, China’s business model is export, export, export, and that’s unacceptable,” Bessent stressed.
“They’re in the middle of a financial crisis right now that they’re trying to export their way out of it. So with the China tariffs, I am highly confident that the Chinese manufacturers will eat the tariffs. Prices won’t go up,” he explained.
He also pointed to recent moves by companies like Honda, which announced plans to shift manufacturing to Indiana, as evidence that tariffs are successfully encouraging businesses to bring production back to the US.
“With Canada and Mexico, you know, I think we’re in the middle of a transition, and just like you mentioned, Honda moving to Indiana is a great start,” he said.
The Treasury secretary also outlined plans to expand US energy production across crude oil, natural gas, and nuclear power.
“We’re going big in nuclear and we are going to… it’s going to bring down costs, but we’re also going to become major exporters of energy, which will make the world more secure,” Bessent said.
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