Chairperson Kevin Hassett of the White House National Economic Council (NEC) said on the 9th (local time) that prices affecting people's livelihoods, including groceries and oil, remain higher than the benchmarks set by the government.
Hassett said in a CNN interview that day, "Grocery prices are still expensive, and we have many tasks left to solve."
On the impact of oil prices due to the Iran war, he also said, "Current prices are still higher than we would like."
However, he stressed, "We have taken many steps to resolve the situation in the Gulf region, and thanks to all these new measures, we expect prices to fall sharply."
He said oil prices, which had surpassed $100 per barrel when the war was at its peak, have recently fallen into the upper $70s to $80 range, showing a downward trend.
He said, "Oil prices fell because the U.S. Navy escorted ships (that had been trapped in the Strait of Hormuz) out of the Persian Gulf, U.S. production increased, and various steps such as a Jones Act waiver were taken," adding, "Thanks to the Jones Act waiver, 100 million barrels of U.S. crude oil are being transported to the East and West Coasts."
As oil prices surged due to the Iran war, the Trump administration had deferred applying the "Jones Act," which grants the right to transport between domestic ports only to U.S. ships. By allowing foreign vessels to carry fuel within the United States, the measure aimed to smooth fuel supplies and ease upward pressure on oil prices.
Chairperson Hassett pushed back against the criticism that tariff policy raises the prices of imports and shifts the burden to consumers, saying major inflation indicators are showing signs of slowing.
Regarding the point that "according to a recent Federal Reserve report, tariffs were passed on to consumers in the form of price increases," he said, "Looking at recent inflation figures, the consumer price index (CPI) in June was negative."
The U.S. CPI for June, announced on the — last month, fell 0.4% from the previous month, a larger decline than the market expected.
Chairperson Hassett also noted that the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index in June fell 0.1% from the previous month, stressing, "All price indicators are slowing."
He added, "There was high inflation under the previous administration, but since President Donald Trump took office, inflation has slowed sharply," and countered that if someone wants to argue that tariffs are driving prices higher, they need to provide evidence to support that claim.
He went on to call the Trump administration's trade policies, including tariffs, "a very, very successful trade policy," emphasizing that corporations are seeking to transfer production facilities back to the United States and that there will be job creation results.