Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent: Mayor Mamdani is Leading Democrats 6/24/26

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Bring in show music, please.

**Katie Kramer** (0:59)
Hi, I'm CNBC producer Katie Kramer. Today on Squawk Pod, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a robust conversation that starts with tariffs.

**Scott Bessent** (1:09)
We have rebooted the tariff program right now. We have something called Section 122 Tariffs, which is a 10 percent global tariff.

**Katie Kramer** (1:16)
And covers the New York City political primaries.

**Scott Bessent** (1:19)
Last night, we saw that Mayor Mamdani is the leader of the Democratic Party and the establishment Democrats. Finally, we are seeing where the Democrats are going in this election.

**Katie Kramer** (1:31)
Plus, America's role in writing the rules of the road for AI.

**Scott Bessent** (1:34)
I think we have the obligation to do it because we're the leader. We are the AI superpower. China is next and France is a distant third.

**Katie Kramer** (1:43)
Plus, the rest of today's news that got us squawking, oil prices, the newest Dow component and...

**Joe Kernen** (1:49)
Do you remember the sheriff on the rifleman? No.

**Becky Quick** (1:52)
I don't even remember the rifleman.

**Katie Kramer** (1:54)
It is Wednesday, June 24th. Squawk Pod begins right now.

**Scott Bessent** (1:58)
Stand back, you by in 3, 2, 1 Cue the please.

**Becky Quick** (2:03)
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Squawk Box right here on CNBC. We are live from the NASDAQ market site in Times Square. I'm Becky Quick, along with Joe Kernen. Andrew is out today.

**Joe Kernen** (2:13)
Take a look at crude prices, which we, that's one of the first things we look at. In the morning, in 72, now almost 71, President Trump putting energy companies on notice earlier this morning in a post on True Social.
President wrote that the big oil companies aren't dropping the price at the pump, commensurate with the sharply lower prices they're paying for oil. And those prices are dropping like rock. In other words, customers are being gouged. That instructed the DOJ to immediately start looking into this. Gasoline prices better start going down a lot faster than what I'm seeing. President DJT, of course, you know, this refining and crack spreads. Like.

**Becky Quick** (2:53)
Takes some time to work through. But, but the crazy thing is that.

**Joe Kernen** (2:56)
And they're different companies. A lot of them are different companies than the majors, than the producer.

**Becky Quick** (2:59)
But the national average ticked higher. That's probably pretty frustrating. You want to see that come down?

**Joe Kernen** (3:03)
Although, it's below four. Anyway, Triple A says the gallon of gas averaging 393 today across the United States, unless you're lucky enough to live in California. That's down from $4.52 just a month ago.

**Becky Quick** (3:17)
And actually this morning, I don't know if we can look at diesel prices this morning. Diesel this morning fell below $5 a gallon for the first time since the war kicked off. So I think you can watch that pretty closely too.
We should say the Dow Jones Industrial Average is getting a new member. S&P Global says that Google's parent Alphabet will replace Verizon in the index ahead of trading next Monday. Alphabet will join mega cap tech peers NVIDIA, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft in the Dow.
Its share price of about $350 will make it among the five or six most impactful stocks in the index. That stock right now $347.85. It is up by about half a percent this morning. Honeywell International will remain in the Dow under its new name Honeywell Technologies. That comes after a spinoff of Honeywell Aerospace. The spinoff firm will not be in the Dow.

**Joe Kernen** (4:07)
That's not long for this world.

**Becky Quick** (4:10)
For the world of the Dow, you mean?

**Joe Kernen** (4:11)
Yeah, the world of the Dow. Is that the lead story, Verizon is still a Dow component?