MNI BRIEF: Bessent Expects Inflation Easing Toward 2% Fed Goal
MNI (WASHINGTON) - U.S. Treasury nominee Scott Bessent told his confirmation hearing Thursday that President-elect Donald Trump's policies will leave inflation on an easing path toward the Federal Reserve's 2% goal.
"I believe that inflation will be much closer to the Federal Reserve's target of 2%" during the Trump administration, Bessent said during a Senate confirmation hearing, without providing much specificity about the timing of inflation's expected fall. Trump's policies "will increase real wages and lower inflation closer to the Federal Reserve's 2% target as it did the during President Trump's first administration," he said. (See: MNI INTERVIEW: Fed Won't Consider Cuts Until March - Benigno)
In the hearing, the Treasury nominee also said extending Trump's tax cuts is the most important economic issue of the day. "If we do not renew and extend, then we will be facing an economic calamity."