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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview on Thursday that he expects economic growth to pick up later this year with core inflation trending lower, while he warned that there have been growing tensions with China over artificial intelligence and rare earths.

Bessent spoke with FOX Business’ Edward Lawrence following Thursday’s release of the initial estimate of second quarter GDP growth, which showed GDP slowed to 1.5% annualized growth from 2.1% in the first quarter.

The Treasury secretary said that the GDP “number is very noisy because a lot of that was very technical,” explaining that releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to ease energy prices came out of GDP and that “core GDP was actually quite strong.”

“We’re seeing manufacturing is doing well, the jobs numbers are strong, the consumer is strong. So it was a technical adjustment in the number, I wouldn’t worry about it,” Bessent said, adding that he thinks GDP is “going to be substantially above 2% for the year.”

US ECONOMIC GROWTH SLOWS UNEXPECTEDLY IN SECOND QUARTER

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent  (REUTERS/Abdul Saboor/File Photo)

Thursday also saw the release of the June personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index which showed the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge slowed to an annual rate of 3.7% last month, down from 4.1% in May.

Core PCE, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, also declined to 3.3% from 3.4% the prior month. Both measures remain well above the Fed’s 2% target.

Bessent said that he sees the trend in core inflation as important, saying the report showed it and service inflation declining.

“Energy can be volatile,” Bessent added, saying that “we’ll get to the other side of the Iran war, and you know it will come down.”

FED’S FAVORED INFLATION GAUGE SHOWED PRICES PULLED BACK IN JUNE

The Treasury secretary was also asked about recent economic friction between the U.S. and China over issues like AI development and supplies of rare earth minerals that are used in advanced tech and military hardware.

“The good thing is the overall relationship comes down from the top, and President Trump, Xi Jinping have a very good relationship. But, you know, that’s not an excuse for them to do things underneath the surface,” Bessent said.

“Sometimes I describe it as a water polo match where our leaders could be hitting the ball back and forth, but under the water, the Chinese seem to have done a lot of kicking lately. And you know, if we have to, we’ll kick back,” the Treasury secretary explained.

“We expressed our concern that the rare earths are not flowing as freely as they could, that they have taken some measures that are detrimental to U.S. businesses. And we said that if this continues, we will push back,” he added.

FED POLICYMAKERS LEAVE RATES UNCHANGED AMID ELEVATED UNCERTAINTY

President Donald Trump invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to Washington in late September after their meeting this spring. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP / Getty Images)

Bessent said that “we expressed our concern over Chinese AI that there is large-scale distillation” of American AI models that are making their way back into the U.S., adding that “we like open source, but open source has got to be legal – it’s not an excuse for IP theft.”

Lawrence asked Bessent if the Trump administration has raised the issue of U.S. tech companies’ AI model watermarks appearing in Chinese models.

“Well, we’ve done that at the staff level, and the good news is we are ahead of the Chinese in AI, I believe by a substantial amount, and they are number two,” Bessent said.

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He added that the two superpowers do need to have conversations “because we want to make sure that non-state actors do not get a hold of a powerful model, that everyone increases their resiliency and that we cooperate towards those goals.”

Amazon MGM Studios has released the first trailer for its upcoming remake of “The Thomas Crown Affair,” offering the earliest public look at director and star Michael B. Jordan’s take on the classic art-heist story ahead of the film’s March 5, 2027, theatrical release. Because the movie remains more than seven months from its debut and has not yet been screened for critics, a full review is not yet possible; this preview instead covers what has been revealed so far through the trailer and interviews with the director.

The project marks the third screen version of the story centered on a wealthy art thief named Thomas Crown, following the 1968 original starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway and a 1999 remake led by Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo. Jordan both directs and stars in the new version, playing the title character opposite Adria Arjona, who portrays a former FBI agent tracking Crown across a series of elaborate heists. Kenneth Branagh appears as a separate antagonist whose presence threatens to unravel Crown’s plans over the course of the film. The supporting cast also includes Lily Gladstone, Danai Gurira, Pilou Asbæk, Ruth Negga and Aubrey Plaza.

Drew Pearce wrote the screenplay, working from an earlier draft by Wes Tooke and Justin Britt-Gibson, adapting original material by Alan Trustman that formed the basis of the 1968 film. Bradford Young serves as cinematographer, while Jon Batiste, an Oscar, Emmy and Grammy winner, composed the score. The original 1968 film was nominated for the Academy Award for best original score and won the Oscar for best original song for “The Windmills of Your Mind,” a legacy that has fueled some anticipation around Batiste’s contribution to the new version.

Jordan has been explicit in interviews that he views the project as a substantial reworking of the story’s core premise rather than a straightforward remake. “I didn’t want a reboot. I wanted a reimagination,” Jordan told Variety in November. “The first two films were about rich white guys stealing for fun. That doesn’t land today. Ours is more personal.” According to reporting on the film’s plot, Jordan’s version reframes Crown’s motivation for his heists: rather than stealing purely for the thrill of the act, as in the earlier films, this Crown is driven by a desire to return stolen or improperly sold artifacts to the communities and creators from which they originated.

Jordan first previewed footage from the film for audiences at CinemaCon in April, roughly one month after winning the Academy Award for best actor for his role in “Sinners.” He received an enthusiastic reception from the crowd during that presentation. Speaking about the long road to bringing the project to the screen, Jordan described it as a longtime personal ambition. “I’ve been dreaming about making this movie for years,” Jordan said, recalling that he first saw the Brosnan-Russo version of the film as a 12-year-old.

In a separate interview with Deadline, Jordan reiterated his intention to distinguish the new film clearly from its predecessors rather than simply retreading familiar territory. “That’s a baby of mine that I’ve been wanting to make for a really long time, so I’m excited about it,” Jordan said. “I think it’s not going to be what exactly people are expecting as well. When you’re re-imagining something, it’s not a remake. It’s not a reboot.”

Reaction to the newly released trailer has been mixed among early viewers and entertainment writers who have weighed in publicly. Some commentary has expressed skepticism about the tonal shift suggested by the trailer’s footage, with one reader comment responding to Deadline’s coverage arguing that the new version appeared to have moved toward a more conventional action-adventure framing at the expense of the romantic, cat-and-mouse tension that defined the earlier films. Other outlets covering the trailer’s release focused more on specific plot elements carried over from prior versions, including speculation about whether Jordan’s take would preserve or omit a psychologist subplot from the 1999 film that some viewers had previously found unnecessary to the central story.

The film is being positioned as a significant theatrical release for Amazon MGM Studios, arriving as part of a broader slate that includes an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel “Verity,” scheduled for an October 2026 release. Studio executives have reportedly drawn comparisons between “The Thomas Crown Affair” and the studio’s earlier science-fiction hit “Project Hail Mary” in terms of its anticipated box-office potential, according to entertainment industry reporting on the project.

With filming completed and the marketing campaign now underway following the trailer’s release, additional details about the film, including further casting information, festival screenings or press events, are expected to emerge in the months leading up to its March 2027 theatrical debut. A full critical assessment of the film itself will not be possible until reviewers have had the opportunity to see the finished movie, which is expected to occur closer to its release date next spring.

He spoke to ET on the Bharatiya Janata Party government’s approach towards media, social media, media controls and much more. Edited excerpts…

In terms of communication and messaging, the BJP’s electoral campaign has been termed an object lesson in the field. How can you translate that into the governmental structure?

All communication needs of the government will be handled in our ministry through a social media hub. I am offering this service to all ministers. Their facebook, twitter and other social media outreach will be handled by the new media wing, and the social media and communication hub.

The advantage that the party saw in reaching out through all communication media has been tremendous, and it was felt that the government too use the available platforms. Therefore, this new hub will provide all the help needed by various ministers and ministries for setting up and operating their facebook pages, twitter handles and the outreach throughsocial media. Traditional media is important, of course, but social media vehicles have to be spruced up.

What are your priority areas as far as this (I&B) ministry is concerned?