← Videos · Economy, Tariffs & Trade

Hassett Briefs Reporters on Walmart, Tariffs and the Economy, May 19, 2025

May 19, 2025 · Roll Call Factbase Videos · 0:03:43

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

What happened

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett spoke to reporters outside the White House on May 19, 2025, in Roll Call Factbase Videos’ recording, with Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller also at the sticks. Asked what the President meant in saying he would be watching Walmart, Hassett said the tariff policy had been very successful, citing $20 billion in revenue raised the previous month and a consumer price index that went down, with inflation closer to target, as he stated it. He said any price effect would be a one-time level adjustment depending on each product’s supply and demand elasticities, and that the White House was highly confident real wages would grow — pointing to a new Council of Economic Advisers study on real wage growth from the policies.

On the economy’s health, Hassett said inflation was low and almost at target, jobs numbers had come in way above expectation, core GDP growth was about 3%, and the first quarter had seen a capital spending boom — equipment investment growth he described as unprecedented outside a recession — which he presented as the onshoring of American production already visible in the data. On the bond market and a credit downgrade, he said American bonds were the best buy in the world and attributed the downgrade to the previous administration’s spending. On trade deals, he counted the China and United Kingdom arrangements as deals, said there was an agreement in principle with India, and left the negotiators’ remaining elements and any announcements to the President, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. On the reconciliation bill, he said the White House would support what it takes to get the bill through, including on Medicaid work requirements, and urged readers to consult the Council of Economic Advisers report on the bill’s growth effects, which he said was modeled on the approach used in 2017.

Why it matters

The gaggle is Hassett’s mid-May 2025 economic case in one stop: tariff revenue and falling inflation offered against the Walmart price warning, a ~3% core GDP and capex-boom reading offered as proof of onshoring, and the CEA growth report offered as the scientific backing for the reconciliation bill.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard watch: Hassett’s May 19, 2025 figures as stated — $20 billion in tariff revenue the previous month, core GDP of about 3%, and a first-quarter capital spending boom — flagged for the scoreboard editors; the entry itself remains review-gated.

Sources: Roll Call Factbase Videos, ‘Press Briefing: Kevin Hassett Miller Speaks to Reporters Outside the White House - May 19, 2025,’ uploaded May 20, 2025 (video 0rIWX2U5xLQ); transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, never republished verbatim).