Scott Bessent says Supreme Court strengthened Trump with ‘draconian’ move despite ruling on tariffs
· Fox News
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stressed "nothing has changed" for national security and revenue after the Supreme Court ruled against the Trump administration’s global tariffs.
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"In terms of the direction of travel, national security, how we will get there with these deals, revenue, nothing has changed," Bessent told "The Will Cain Show." "But what has changed, the Supreme Court has taken away the president's leverage."
The Supreme Court delivered a blow to President Donald Trump’s economic agenda Friday, ruling 6-3 against his international tariff policy – a tactic that has been used liberally by the administration to assert leverage on countries.
However, Bessent said one aspect of the ruling could strengthen Trump’s leverage and that within days, the president could reinstate tariffs through a particular authority.
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"In a way, they have made the leverage that he has more draconian because they agreed he does have the right to a full embargo," the secretary said.
"Within three days, the President can put on the Section 122 10% global tariff. So, at Treasury for the full year 2026, we foresee the no decrease in revenue," he continued.
Trump called the Supreme Court’s ruling "deeply disappointing" and said he is "ashamed" of the six justices for not being courageous enough to do the right thing for Americans.
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Bessent echoed a similar sentiment.
"Today was a loss for the American people, because by taking away President Trump's instantaneous leverage using the IEPA authority, the American people have suffered a significant setback," he said.
"This could be a mess, and this could take months, this could take years to litigate and to get to the payouts," he added.
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Bessent said the administration can institute tariffs through different mechanisms, as well as leverage Trump’s capabilities to impose a full embargo.
"If he wants to negotiate with these countries, he does have the right to say, ‘I can embargo all your products.’ We just can't collect $1 from the embargo," the secretary explained.
When asked by Fox News host Will Cain whether peace deals are under threat following the tariff blow, Bessent predicted they are not.
"I think that everyone is going to honor their deal," he said. "And there is the draconian alternative that the Supreme Court reaffirmed that the president has. He has a right to a complete embargo, like he can just cut countries off. Or he can cut whole product lines off."
Bessent pledged that tariffs will return to the same level.
"We will get back to the same tariff level for the countries. It will just be in a less direct and slightly more convoluted manner," he said.