US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged the Federal Reserve to keep an open mind on interest rates in a Sunday interview. He argued that artificial intelligence and lighter regulation could raise productivity and limit inflation pressure even as the economy grows. This is the administration’s argument, not a Fed decision or a measured productivity effect. Elevated fuel prices remain a counterpressure in the account.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged policymakers at the Federal Reserve, the US central bank, to keep an open mind about interest rates in a Sunday interview. TokenPost reported his appeal and his assessment that underlying inflation had stayed calm before Bloomberg Law’s account appeared. His comments express a Treasury official’s view of how the Fed should weigh inflation and growth. They announce no interest-rate decision by the central bank.[1], [2]
Bessent argued that productivity gains from artificial intelligence and lighter regulation could allow the US economy to grow with less price pressure. He also credited tax cuts and deregulation for economic strength under President Donald Trump. These are his claims about the economy’s capacity, rather than a measured result showing that AI has already lowered inflation. Whether output per worker can grow enough to alter the inflation path remains outside the evidence reported from the interview.[1]
The policy pitch comes as elevated fuel prices linked to the conflict with Iran weigh on US voters before November’s midterm elections. That price pressure complicates Bessent’s claim that stronger growth need not generate comparable inflation. His remarks put a possible future productivity effect beside a current cost borne by households. The Fed’s next choices remain its own; the Treasury secretary offered an argument for its deliberation, not an announced change to the rate path.[1]
