United States Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent said that President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs are unlikely to raise inflation.
Bessent’s comments come just before Trump’s 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada come into effect alongside an extra 10% duty on Chinese imports on top of the 10% tariff he levied on the country on 4 February.
Economists have raised concerns over the possibility of this plan raising inflation and keeping interest rates elevated into 2026.
In a Face the Nation interview, Bessent said he is unsure of the impact on the average household as it is “path-dependent” but that he isn’t worried about China.
“China will pay for the tariffs because their business model is exporting their way out of this inflation,” he said.
“They will eat any tariffs that go on.
“I'm expecting inflation to continue dropping over the year.”
This comes after the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said it “firmly opposes” Trump’s extra tariffs on Friday and vowed to retaliate if needed in a statement.
“If the US insists on its own way, China will take all necessary countermeasures to defend its legitimate rights and interests,” a spokesperson from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said.
Bessent was also asked about his comments last week about Mexico suggesting they would match the U.S. tariffs on China to avoid the 25% tariff and he urged Canada to follow suit.
“We’ll see. The Mexican leadership has offered to do that,” Bessent said.
“We haven’t heard from the Canadians, but I think that would be a very good start.”
In the same interview, Bessent said that the Trump administration is considering appointing an “affordability czar” to help counter the rising cost of living.
"I think President Trump said that he'll own the economy in six or 12 months, but I can tell you that we are working to get these prices down every day, but it took four years to get us here, and we've had five weeks so interest rates are down," he said.
"That's a very good start toward housing affordability, toward auto affordability, and we are tackling this."
U.S consumer confidence experienced its steepest monthly decline in over four years and a CBS poll found that 49% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy and 52% believe his actions are causing the price of groceries to rise.
