Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he was “confident” the Trump administration will win in the Supreme Court over the president’s ability to implement tariffs.
Partial transcript as follows:
KRISTEN WELKER: If the Supreme Court rules against you on these tariffs, is the administration prepared to offer rebates?
BESSENT: So Kristen, I am confident that we will win at the Supreme Court. But there are numerous other avenues that we can take. They diminish President Trump’s negotiating position. But there are numerous in terms of, and remember this isn’t about the dollars. This is about balance. The dollars are an after amount.
WELKER: Would you offer rebates, though? Are you prepared to offer rebates?
BESSENT: So we would have to give a refund on about half the tariffs which would be terrible for the treasury.
WELKER: And you’re prepared to give those–
BESSENT: But–
WELKER: –refunds.
BESSENT: Well, I mean, there’s no “be prepared.” If the court says it, we’d have to do it. But, you know, let’s look back. Again when I was here in April, the sky was falling with the tariffs, that everyone is leaving the U.S. Since then, the U.S. bond market has been the best performing bond market in the developed world. And from Barclays Bank to Goldman Sachs to others are saying it is the tariff income and the fiscal improvement that we are seeing. And that’s what President Trump is talking about.
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