On Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appeared on the NBC Sunday show Meet the Press, opposite host Kristen Welker, to discuss ongoing events with fuel prices, Ukraine, Russia, the Trump administration, and related topics. As we have come to expect, the Treasury Secretary handed those issues with aplomb. First, on energy, the Secretary had some direct comments:
.@SecScottBessent: "This is an energy shock; we'll get to the other side of the Iran conflict and those prices will come down." https://t.co/aTOSPpbwT1
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 18, 2026
Secretary Bessent said:
Kristen, we have an energy shock. And if you look underneath the hood in the numbers, core inflation has been very flat before this month, and it’d been down for four months in a row. So core inflation is down. The food is below the Fed’s targets. The prescription drugs have had the biggest decrease in history. Rents are down. So this is an energy shock. We will get to the other side of the Iran conflict, and those prices will come down.
It's an energy shock, and one that's hitting Americans hard right now, in gasoline and diesel, in home heating oil, in everything that is derived from petroleum. That's key — more on that in a moment. The second key clip from Sunday's discussion involved the Russo-Ukrainian war, and who is buying what from whom.
https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2111821461736636448
.@SecScottBessent: "The Europeans have given Russia and Vladimir Putin more money than they've given the Ukrainians. They continue to gorge on Russian energy... Why should the U.S. go at it alone?" https://t.co/p2fzQmWIMl
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 18, 2026
Secretary Bessent said:
President Trump has made it clear he wants the killing to stop. And the so-called Graham bill gives the president the flexibility, gives him 60 days to assess the situation. And, Kristen, let’s look at what’s really happening here, that the Europeans have given Russia and Vladimir Putin more money than they’ve given the Ukrainians. They continue to gorge on Russian energy. There is a facility called the Yamal facility. In the first six months of the year, there were 140 cargoes that left. 136 of those went to Europe, to Belgium, to Spain, to France, to the Netherlands. Over $8 billion. So we have asked, in the spring, I asked our European allies to join us in putting secondary tariffs on China, on India. They refused. So why should the U.S. bear the burden? So President Trump, perhaps will be in contact with our European partners. Why should the U.S. go it alone, Kristen?
In other words, Europe is far more heavily dependent on Russian energy than the United States is. While Russia, yes, was the aggressor in the Russo-Ukraine War, which has already dragged on far longer than we would have expected, President Trump, in weighing the effects of Russian supplies on the global markets, particularly where diesel fuel is concerned, is doing what he was elected to do — to put American interests above those of any other nation, whether they are at war or not.
Finally, there was this exchange on Russian sanctions.
.@SecScottBessent: "No one has been tougher on Russian sanctions than President Trump." https://t.co/4JVMTs9Yga
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 18, 2026
Secretary Bessent: President Trump sanctioned the two largest Russian energy companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, which dealt a catastrophic blow to the Russian energy industry. So no one has been tougher on Russian sanctions than President Trump.
Kristen Welker: But you there are pushing for even tougher sanctions...
Secretary Bessent: Kristen, we did the toughest sanctions.
There was some back-and-forth before Secretary Bessent got to his main point on sanctions:
There is a 60-day period so we can examine what’s going on. The only thing that has been lifted is the diesel embargo. And, you know, I will point out the U.K. in May waived their embargo on diesel and jet fuel made with Russian crude. So, you know, where’s the outrage for the rest of the world? President Zelenskyy does not criticize his European partners. He seemed a bit disassembled in that interview. The Europeans are financing the Russian war machine. The U.S. imports $4 billion of Russian products. 1.8 billion of that fertilizer. Europeans import more than ten times that.
Ay, that's the rub. The legacy media has been strangely quiet about the United Kingdom dropping its sanctions on Russian energy. Europe as a whole buys more than 10 times the energy product from Russia, directly, than the United States does. And, yes, Ukraine's strikes at Russian facilities, most notably refineries and diesel storage facilities, have caused the price to rise, and that affects American consumers.
Like it or not, our entire economy runs on diesel fuel. When diesel fuel prices are this high, if there is anything any American president can do about it, which won't always be the case, then that president should do so.
It's about putting the interests of Americans first. That's what we voted for.
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