Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was challenged during a press briefing Thursday regarding claims by President Donald Trump that interest rates would come down soon.

Trump has been agitating for a reduction in interest rates throughout his second term, even engaging in a public feud with former Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell over the issue. Powell criticized Trump’s tariffs and repeatedly rebuffed attempts to get him to budge on interest rates, insisting that the Fed must remain independent and warning of potential consequences of rashly changing interest rates driven by political whim and not economic factors.

Kevin Warsh officially took over at the Fed last week. After grueling questioning during his confirmation hearing, he squeaked by with the narrowest vote in U.S. history for a Fed chair on a mostly party line vote. The final tally was 54-45, with Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) the sole Democratic vote in favor; Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) did not vote.

During Thursday’s briefing, Reuters White House national security reporter Gram Slattery asked Bessent about the interest rates.

“President Trump has said that we can expect interest rates to come down very quickly, a number of times — did that last week, but the market at the moment does — broadly does not expect any rate cuts this year. JP Morgan said this, Morgan Stanley, and so on. So who is right, the president or the market?” Slattery asked.

“Well, I think — again, I believe that we will get through this challenging period now,” Bessent replied. “They are on higher prices, on the other side of this, I’ve said publicly that I think we’ll be back to substantial disinflation, but most importantly, I think we’ve got the Warsh Fed now. It’s a new day at the Fed. The treasury secretary and the Fed chair have lunch or breakfast every week. I had my first breakfast with Chair Warsh this morning, and I believe that he will do the right thing to balance inflation and growth.”

The topic of conversation moved back to Iran with the next reporter’s question.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah's writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law&Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe. Follow Sarah on Threads, Twitter, and Bluesky.