Bessent said that tariffs could cause a 'one-time price adjustment'
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday pushed back on concerns that have been raised about tariffs causing inflationary pressures that raise consumer prices, saying they would just lead to a one-time "price adjustment."
Bessent delivered remarks at the Economic Club of New York and participated in a question-and-answer period with FOX Business Network's Larry Kudlow in which he was asked whether tariffs are inflationary.
"Look, can tariffs be a one-time price adjustment? Yes… I would hope that the failed team transitory could get back together and think that nothing is more transitory than tariffs if it's a one-time price adjustment," Bessent said in reference to Biden administration officials saying that the historic inflation of several years ago was "transitory."
"And for those who say, 'oh, the tariffs are a tax, they're inflationary,' so you're saying taxes are inflationary, which I like to challenge a lot of my Democratic friends to," he added.