Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker on Sunday that Americans should start seeing lower prices on some products within weeks.
President Donald Trump announced Nov. 14 that tariffs on some imported grocery items would be suspended, citing progress in trade talks. Bessent told Welker the Trump administration was making progress in reducing prices by addressing illegal immigration and also trying to get lower interest rates while reducing inflation.
“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. 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.”
“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,” Bessent continued. “Energy prices: gasoline is down. We saw— we believe health care is gonna come down: we will see an announcement this coming week on that. And so, across the board, prices are starting to come down. We’re having Thanksgiving week. This will be the lowest cost for a Thanksgiving dinner in four years. Turkey prices are down 16%.”
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Welker questioned whether the tariffs Trump imposed to spur trade negotiations had caused higher prices.
“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,” Bessent responded. “They are traumatized and [sic] over the Biden inflation. We have slowed inflation and we are working very hard to bring it down.”
Welker then pressed Bessent on the inflation numbers.
“Let me ask you about tariffs because there’s this big announcement on tariffs,” Welker said. “Since you were last on this program the administration announced it was rolling back tariffs on more than 200 food products. You have said recently that you think tariffs help consumers. If tariffs help consumers, why is the administration rolling them back?”
“Well, first of all, Kristen, if you look at the data — the imported goods — the inflation has actually been flat. 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 previously clashed with Welker during an October 2025 appearance on “Meet the Press,” accusing the NBC host of trying to “cherry-pick” data.
“Banana prices are up almost 7%, coffee prices up nearly 19%. Isn’t the fact that you’re rolling back tariffs an admission that, ultimately, they do drive up prices for consumers?” Welker asked. Bessent responded, “Kristen, how much does your arm weigh?”
“That, I do not know,” a laughing Welker responded, before Bessent said, “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.”
Welker then asked how soon the prices would drop.
“Some are gonna to come down in weeks, some are gonna come down in months,” Bessent said.
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