On Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Ingraham Angle,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that he isn’t sure tariffs will cause prices to rise because a large amount will be absorbed by both currency and the foreign producers, “But if they do, we could see a one-time, slight increase, and it would be very slight,” and “The ultimate transitory” and inflation will fall on the whole due to other policies.
Host Laura Ingraham asked, “Now, the usual suspects are asking why won’t the tariffs, if they’re raised, create inflation, and to that you say?”
Bessent answered, “Well, Laura, during the great inflation of ’22, ’23, all we heard was that it was transitory. The ultimate transitory, the hit is, if prices go up, and I’m not sure they will, because a huge amount is absorbed by the currency, a big amount is absorbed by the foreign producer. But if they do, we could see a one-time, slight increase, and it would be very slight, and vis-à-vis inflation, relative to everything else President Trump is doing, lowering the energy costs, deregulating, and commonsense policies, inflation is going to go down overall.”
Ingraham then said, “Well, if other countries retaliate, prices may go up. This is The Wall Street Journal’s point.” She then turned to tariffs on American allies specifically.
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