President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser thinks that Americans spending more on everything is a sign of their optimism about the future.
“People are spending more on gas,” Kevin Hassett, 64, director of the National Economic Council, told anchor Shannon Bream on Fox News Sunday, reiterating the well-known fact that Americans are paying more at the pump as fuel prices rise amid the war with Iran.
Rather than reassuring Americans that the White House is working to bring gas prices down, Hassett went on to list other areas of spending: “They’re also spending more on everything else, not just groceries, but restaurants and so on.”
“I think that’s a sign that you would see when people are optimistic about the future,” he added.
Along with gas prices, which in some states have climbed above $5 according to AAA, experts have warned that grocery prices could be set to join the soaring costs.
“It’s going to be a challenging year,” California Polytechnic State University agribusiness professor Ricky Volpe told Bloomberg. “Food is going to become less affordable, and consumers should be prepared for it,” he added.
According to government data, Americans are already saving less than half as much as they were a year ago, as incomes fail to keep pace with rising costs.
A May Politico poll found that 53 percent of Americans say the cost of living is the worst they can remember, up from 46 percent in November. Nearly half blame Trump for the economy, while a plurality say their finances have worsened since he took office, including 18 percent of his 2024 voters.
Yet Hassett claims that lower savings and increased spending simply mean people are not “worried about losing their jobs.”
The comments echo those of his boss, as President Donald Trump, 79, has also questioned Americans’ concerns about spending, calling the affordability crisis a “hoax.”
Still, the numbers are clear: As of December 2025, manufacturing employment was down by 65,000 jobs compared with when Trump was inaugurated for his second term in January 2025.
In April, Hassett suggested that Americans should try to “imagine” lower fuel prices instead of facing reality. “Those prices will go right back down to where they were before,” he claimed at the time, saying he was “confident” Trump has a resolution for the problem.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Since the start of the war with Iran on Feb. 28, Trump has repeatedly claimed he is close to a solution that will bring peace and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one-fifth of the global oil trade passes.
Despite those promises, on Friday, Trump left a two-hour meeting without deciding whether to pursue an extended ceasefire, a senior administration official told The New York Times, even after suggesting on social media that he intended to make a “final determination” during the discussion.
