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Bessent Urges Federal Reserve (U.S. central bank) to Wait on Rate Cuts as War-Linked Inflation Weighs on Bitcoin

Bessent Urges Federal Reserve (U.S. central bank) to Wait on Rate Cuts as War-Linked Inflation Weighs on Bitcoin

According to Jinshi, Bessent said on April 15 that the Federal Reserve needs to wait for the right timing before cutting rates, while core inflation continues trending downward.

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Fact Check
The core claim that Bessent advocated a 'wait-and-see' approach on interest-rate cuts is strongly supported by the Reuters report republished by Yahoo Finance, which explicitly says he told Semafor the Fed should 'wait and see' before lowering rates amid the war in Iran. That same Reuters/Yahoo Finance report also supports the link to inflation uncertainty by describing the war's effect on oil and gasoline prices and March inflation. CryptoSlate aligns with this and adds the angle that such inflation uncertainty pressures or clouds Bitcoin, but that Bitcoin linkage appears to be the article's market analysis rather than a directly verified quote from Bessent in the sources fetched here. Because the exact primary interview source was not fetched and the X links failed to resolve, the overall statement is best assessed as likely true in substance, with some caution around the implication that Bessent himself explicitly tied his comments to Bitcoin.
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Summary

According to Jinshi on April 15, U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent said he understands that the Federal Reserve needs to wait for the right timing to cut interest rates. He added that the Fed will eventually cut rates further and that core inflation is trending downward. The remarks update his earlier April 14 comments, when he said the Federal Reserve can wait before cutting rates and should act only when cuts are clearly needed. Earlier remarks also included his statement that the current Section 122 tariff is 10% and that Trump had not decided whether to raise it to 15%.

Terms & Concepts
  • Federal Reserve: The central bank of the United States, which sets monetary policy and influences interest rates and overall financial conditions.
  • Rate cuts: Reductions in benchmark interest rates, typically used to ease borrowing costs and support economic activity.
  • Core inflation: A measure of inflation that excludes more volatile items such as food and energy to show underlying price trends.