White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett crowed about "through the roof" credit card spending on higher-priced gasoline.
During a Wednesday interview on Fox Business, host Maria Bartiromo noted that President Donald Trump had "paused" Project Freedom, an attempt to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz despite a threat from Iran.
"Well, basically what happened was that the president showed with his resolve that we were willing to start escorting ships through," Hassett insisted. "You never know with the Iranians. But absolutely, it looks like the folks that are negotiating these things seem to be feeling like they're making a lot of progress right now."
Bartiromo pointed out that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had recently insisted that "the consumer is very strong."
"We're in constant touch with the banks and the credit card companies," Bessent said on Sunday. "And they're saying that all quintiles of the distribution group is very strong."
Hassett agreed: "The consumer is really, really firing on all cylinders."
"And just as Secretary Bessent said, credit card spending is through the roof," he continued. "They're spending more on gasoline, but they're spending more on everything else, too."
