Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday touted estimates that the US budget deficit would be slightly lower for the 2025 fiscal year — a slight pullback that came despite a surge in tariff revenues.
The estimates released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) put the latest shortfall at $1.8 trillion, down by $8 billion from the level recorded in the prior year.
While the Treasury Department publishes official monthly and annual budget data, Bessent noted that it will not be able to release the current numbers just yet as a government shutdown persists.
Speaking at a community banking conference, he pointed however to the CBO’s figures in saying that “we’re on our way” to getting the US debt and deficits down.
“According to the CBO numbers, and we don’t have the Treasury numbers yet, the deficit to GDP will fall from about 6.5 percent — which was the highest when we weren’t at war or weren’t in a recession in US history — to 5.9 percent,” Bessent said.
A Treasury spokesperson did not respond when queried earlier about the timing of its monthly and annual budget report, typically released in October.
But the deficit only pulled back slightly despite a jump in revenue from collected customs duties, which include tariffs, according to CBO numbers this week.
This figure rocketed from $77 billion in the 2024 period to $195 billion in the latest fiscal year running from October 2024 to September 2025.
President Donald Trump imposed wide-ranging tariffs on US trading partners after returning to the White House this year, while targeting certain sectors with more specific rates.
But Trump’s global tariffs — targeting goods from specific economies rather than sectors — have also faced legal challenges.
The Supreme Court is due to hear arguments on their legality in November.
Add Comment