Scott Bessent on Tariffs, Inflation: ‘I Think Very Little of that Will Be Passed on to the Consumer’

BAIER: “How does — how do tariffs factor into that? Do you — do you plan to pay for things with tariffs coming in? And how does that factor into tariffs possibly being passed on to consumers?”

BESSENT: “Well, I’ve talked about, President Trump uses tariffs unlike any president in modern times. And we think about it three ways. One can be revenues for the government, two can be to make trade fair because a lot of our trading partners do not treat us fairly. And three, President Trump uses them for negotiating as he did with Colombia, as he — as you’re seeing with Mexico, with Canada, with the fentanyl crisis that we’re having. So there is a chance that the tariffs could bring in a substantial amount of revenue for the government. So, for instance, a 10 percent global tariff would bring in $2.5 trillion over 10 years.”

BAIER: “But what would that mean for the consumer if you’re fighting inflation at the same time?”

BESSENT: “Yeah, I think one of the — and what we’re hearing and seeing, I think that very little of that would be passed on to the consumer, that I think the currency adjusts. I think that especially China, that the companies on the other side, the exporters are going to eat a lot of the cost. And then, three, I think for overall inflation, and when we get energy prices down, when we deregulate that, as we saw in President Trump’s first term, inflation is going to be under control at the Fed’s target of 2 percent, probably less.”