Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that the U.S. is having a "very strong holiday season," noting that consumer spending has held up "across the income cohort."
"There is nothing to say that there are two dolls instead of 30 dolls," Bessent said on CBS' "Face the Nation," referencing President Donald Trump's comment in April that children might get "two dolls instead of 30" and pay "a couple of bucks more" because of tariffs.
Bessent pointed to recent economic growth as evidence that the economy is outperforming expectations, saying the U.S. has posted 4% GDP growth in a couple of quarters and is on track to finish the year with 3% real GDP growth.
Pressed about the impact of tariffs, Bessent said overall inflation remains roughly steady year over year and argued that imported goods are not the main driver.
He cited the personal consumption expenditures measure at about 2.9% and said imported goods inflation is about 1.8%, blaming higher costs instead on services inflation "which actually has nothing to do with tariffs."
CBS polling showed that 60% of Americans believe Trump makes inflation sound better than it is, with his approval on the economy at 36% and on inflation at 32%, show host Margaret Brennan pointed out.
Bessent said the administration is not dismissing what consumers feel and argued affordability depends on both inflation and incomes, saying real incomes are up about 1%.
Bessent blamed "embedded inflation" from former President Joe Biden's term for causing the current issues, and said the administration has made progress against that.
He added that the costs for a "common man" basket of essentials such as food, gasoline, and rent are easing, and said he expects inflation to "roll down strongly" next year.
Asked about Trump's new order to investigate corporate price gouging tied to high beef prices, Bessent argued the effort is different from Biden-era actions and pointed to lower turkey prices heading into Thanksgiving.
Bessent also discussed on Sunday the federal investigation into welfare fraud in Minnesota, pointing out that the initial fraud was discovered by the IRS, for which he's the acting commissioner, and not state officials.
"We had to go in and clean up the mess for them, and this is part of the continued cleanup," he said. "A lot of money has been transferred from the individuals who committed this fraud, including those who donated to the government."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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