Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hit the Sunday shows blaming Joe Biden and the Iran conflict for rising prices — the same week President Trump waived congressionally mandated Russia sanctions that lifted a diesel embargo American drivers are now paying for.
Inflation has climbed from 3% to 3.7% since Trump took office 636 days ago, and gas prices are up 44% since the start of the Iran conflict. But the energy shock Bessent cites isn't just about foreign wars. It's about policy choices both parties own — from the stimulus spending that flooded the economy with dollars to the sanctions regime Congress passed with veto-proof majorities and the executive branch is now selectively dismantling.
On NBC's "Meet the Press," host Kristen Welker asked Bessent whether Trump's policies are driving up inflation. Bessent deflected: "We have an energy shock," he said, pointing to the Iran conflict and claiming core inflation had been flat for four months. Welker fact-checked him on the spot — core inflation excludes energy and food, the two categories hammering working Americans at the pump and the grocery store.
Bessent then pivoted to Biden. "Why don't we revisit the Biden-era policies where the American people got smoked? 21.5% inflation and only about 17% wage increases," he said, noting that real wages have risen 1.5% under Trump. Welker wasn't letting it go: inflation was 3% when Trump took office and it's 3.7% now. When will the administration "take responsibility for the economy and say this is the Trump economy?" she asked. Bessent replied, "Well, we will own the economy."
But owning it and explaining it are different things. On Friday, Trump signed an executive order waiving the Russian sanctions and tariffs required under the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 — a law he signed Sept. 18 after the Senate passed it 86-11 and the House passed it 262-159. Those are veto-proof, bipartisan margins. Both parties voted to squeeze Russian energy. Now Trump is letting diesel flow again.
Bessent insisted to Welker that "no sanctions were lifted" and that "the only thing that has been lifted was the diesel embargo." He defended the move by pointing the finger at Europe: 136 of 140 cargoes from one Russian facility in the first half of the year went to Europe, worth more than $8 billion. He said he asked European allies in the spring to join the U.S. in secondary tariffs on China and India and they refused. "So why should the U.S. bear the burden?" he asked.
It's a fair question. It's also a question that applies to the entire sanctions-and-stimulus apparatus both parties built. Biden printed the money. A bipartisan Congress sanctioned the energy. Trump is now picking which sanctions to keep and which to waive. Working Americans are still paying record prices at the store while the same class of officials who created the mess argue over whose name is on it.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Welker the waiver "is a big support for Putin." Bessent's response: "President Trump has made it clear he wants the killing to stop." Whether diesel prices drop before the new year, Bessent said, "will depend on what happens with the Iran conflict."
The buck doesn't stop anywhere in Washington. It just gets passed — from one administration to the next, from one party to the other, from the sanctions hawks to the waiver signers — while the tab stays with the American people.
