Scott Bessent Drops Inflation Truth Bombs on NBC’s Kristen Welker [WATCH]

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that American consumers should begin seeing lower prices on certain goods within weeks, citing a combination of new tariff adjustments, declining interest rates, and changes in immigration policy.

Bessent discussed the administration’s economic outlook during an interview with “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker.

President Donald Trump announced on Nov. 14 that tariffs on some imported grocery products would be suspended as trade negotiations progressed.

Bessent said the administration was focused on lowering prices by addressing what he described as the three major economic pressures on American households.

“In March of 2024 I wrote a piece, and I talked about the three I’s that were killing Americans: immigration, interest rates, and inflation,” Bessent said.

“President [Trump]’s closed the border and the mass immigration is gone, and that was putting a lot of the immigration was putting upward pressure on housing, downward pressure on wages.”

He said interest rates have declined and that the housing market has shown improvement.

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“Interest rates are down and now we are starting to see the affordability. The prices get better. We had a very big October for home sales,” he said.

Bessent added that gasoline prices had decreased and said the administration expected an announcement this week regarding health care costs.

“Across the board, prices are starting to come down,” he said.

“We’re having Thanksgiving week. This will be the lowest cost for a Thanksgiving dinner in four years. Turkey prices are down 16%.”

Welker asked Bessent whether tariffs implemented earlier in the administration contributed to price increases.

“Inflation hasn’t gone up and, Kristen, the one thing that we’re not going to do is do what the Biden administration did and tell the American people they don’t know how they feel,” he responded.

“They are traumatized and over the Biden inflation. We have slowed inflation and we are working very hard to bring it down.”

Welker noted that the administration recently announced the rollback of tariffs on more than 200 food products and asked Bessent to explain the shift. She referenced his previous statements claiming that tariffs help consumers and questioned why they were now being reversed.

“Well, first of all, Kristen, if you look at the data — the imported goods — the inflation has actually been flat,” he said.

“Inflation is up because of the service economy and services, so that has nothing to do with tariffs, and many of the food items where the inflation is coming down, the [U.S. Trade Representative] has been working very hard on trade deals, and the trade deals that have been in the works for six or eight months coincide with many Latin American, Central American countries where the food stuffs you just named come from.”

Bessent and Welker previously sparred during an October 2025 appearance on the program, during which Bessent accused the host of attempting to “cherry-pick” data.

During Sunday’s interview, Welker cited price increases for bananas and coffee and asked whether rolling back tariffs reflected acknowledgment that tariffs raised prices.

Bessent replied, “Kristen, how much does your arm weigh?”

Welker said she did not know, and Bessent continued, “Exactly, but you know how much you weigh; you get on the scale every morning. Inflation is a composite number and we look at everything… We try to push down the things we can control and, as I said, that we are working on— the energy prices are down and everything flows from that, and I think we’re going to see these other prices come down.”

When Welker asked how soon consumers would notice changes, Bessent said, “Some are gonna to come down in weeks, some are gonna come down in months.”

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