← Videos · Energy & Permitting

Wright on Varney: Tariffs Won't Raise Energy Prices; Palisades Nuclear Plant Back by End of Year or Early Next, Apr. 1, 2025

April 1, 2025 · U.S. Department of Energy · 0:06:11

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Fox Business host Stuart Varney, on the eve of what President Trump called Liberation Day, that he does not think energy prices will rise because of tariffs — they have already come down in response to the president’s actions and messaging, according to Wright. He said tariffs on U.S. exports will come down across the world and that foreign leaders he talks to want to buy more American products, mostly energy, and invest more dollars in the United States, according to the interview.

Wright said the president was elected to lower energy prices and works on it every day, and predicted lower energy prices, more investment, and more jobs, according to the interview. He contrasted states with expensive energy — naming California, New York, New England, and increasingly Colorado — which he said reflects politicians’ choices, according to Wright.

On nuclear, Wright said a renaissance is years away because decades passed without building meaningful capacity, but that the shut-down Palisades plant in southwestern Michigan will be back online hopefully by the end of this year and, if not, very early next year, and that a small modular reactor will hopefully be running, with several under construction, during President Trump’s term, according to the interview. He said natural gas plants, by contrast, are growing fast right now, according to Wright.

Why it matters

The interview captures the secretary’s Liberation Day eve expectations on prices and trade alongside a dated, checkable restart prediction for the Palisades plant, as he stated them.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard candidate: Wright predicted on April 1, 2025 that the Palisades nuclear plant would return to service by the end of 2025 or very early 2026, and that a small modular reactor would be running during President Trump’s term. Flagged for the scoreboard editor; no verdict is entered here.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright Joins Stuart Varney on Fox Business - April 1, 2025”, 2025-04-01 (official upload, embedded above; published 2025-04-01). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.