Kevin Hassett, Director of the White House's National Economic Council, spoke with Scripps News following President Trump's cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
Hassett said hundreds of billions of dollars in tariff revenues have begun to supplement public programs.
"I got the latest report a couple days ago; It's getting close to already this year $200 billion. I think that the latest estimate from [the Congressional Budget Office] is that we're looking at maybe $3 trillion in revenue over the next ten years. What that's doing is it's defending Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and making it so that our programs are on sounder footing because we have a lot more revenue."
"Because prices aren't going up, the tariffs, as President Trump always suggested, are mostly being borne by foreign suppliers. It's not exactly a free lunch, but it's really a big benefit for the American taxpayer. We're getting the revenue not just from us, but from others."
According to ongoing analysis by the Tax Foundation, President Trump's tariff policies are forecast to be revenue-positive for the U.S. They're estimated to bring in $2.3 trillion through 2034.
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President Trump has insisted he wants big businesses to eat the cost of tariffs. He has doubled down on social media, saying tariffs haven't caused any problems for America.
But new Goldman Sachs research projects businesses will pass on higher price increases to U.S. consumers come fall.
Businesses including Walmart and Target have warned that their costs are increasing and that they may be forced to pass those increases on to consumers, even if only as a last resort.
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Scripps News asked Hassett if there was a point at which the Trump administration expected companies would be forced to raise prices.
Hassett said the experiences of shoppers on the ground so far does not reflect that possibility. He claimed, without providing specific examples, that prices on some tariffed goods were decreasing.
"What we have to do with that is look at what's happening the prices of the things we buy when we have a tariff. And basically the prices have been going down. It's sort of like the story of the guy at the store is getting less than a dollar — and the guy at the store is, say, the Chinese exporter."
Watch the full interview with Hassett in the embedded video.
