US Treasury Secretary Bessent suggests Fed rate cuts by September

During his appearance on the Ingraham Angle program on Fox News, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spoke out about the prospects for the Federal Reserve System's (Fed) monetary policy.

In his opinion, the regulator's delay in cutting rates amid Donald Trump's imposition of trade tariffs is “perplexing,” especially given the central bank's downward revision of the country's GDP growth forecast. As Bessent stated, a possible answer is that tariffs are considered a pro-inflationary factor at the central bank. In that case, the US Federal Reserve could start lowering interest rates by September.

Bessent's forecast came just hours after Goldman Sachs published a projection of another Fed rate cut in September and two more cuts before the end of the year.

For now, the US central bank is taking a cautious stance on monetary easing, citing uncertainty over the inflationary impact of trade tariffs. Fed Chairman Powell reiterated this posture during an event in Portugal on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, new data on the price index of personal consumption expenditures, the Fed's preferred measure of inflation, pointed to increased price pressures in May.