‘The most draconian measure’: Watch Scott Bessent lay out future of Trump’s tariffs, trade deals
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent told “Sunday Morning Futures” host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday that revenue from tariffs would not drop, despite the Supreme Court’s ruling against the authority President Donald Trump’ invoked to levy his “Liberation Day” tariffs.
The high court decided Trump exceeded his powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) in a 6-3 ruling issued Friday. Bartiromo questioned Bessent about claims made Friday by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget that the deficit would increase due to the loss of revenue.
“Yes, so, Maria, let’s take a step back here. And Maya MacGuineas should be ashamed, and they should take the word ‘responsible’ out of her organization’s name,” Bessent responded. “Everything she told you was completely irresponsible and, look, where were they when the Biden administration blew out the deficit that we had a fiscal contraction last year? So she should be ashamed.”
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“So let me tell you what’s going to happen first, this ruling was a very narrow ruling in terms of the president’s ability to use IEEPA to collect revenues. The Supreme Court said the president can put in a full embargo, but he cannot collect one dollar,” Bessent continued. “So the president still has the most draconian measure for negotiations, and you know that under Sections 232, Sections 301, we’re already collecting substantial tariff revenue. The IEEPA tariffs are going to be replaced in three days with the Section 122, and I can tell you at Treasury, contrary to what the ‘Committee for an Irresponsible Budget,’ or whatever it’s called, says, tariff revenue will be unchanged this year and will be unchanged in the future.”
Trump announced reciprocal tariffs to address import duties and “horrendous imbalances” in trade with other countries during an April 2, 2025 Rose Garden event. He later took to Truth Social on April 9 to announce a pause, citing the willingness of other countries to negotiate trade deals. Bessent told Bartiromo those deals would remain in place.
“The president announced on Friday and amended over the weekend [a] 15% global tariff using a very robust authority from 1974. Those will be layered on with section 232, section 301, and the 122s; they run for 150 days,” Bessent continued. “And during that time, [the Department of] Commerce, USTR [United States Trade Representative] will be doing studies, and the studies will likely lead to increased tariff revenues.”
“We’ve been in contact with our foreign trading partners, and they like the tariff deals,” Bessent noted. “So, you know, they’re not going to be changed and the president remains undeterred in his determination to lower our trade deficit and bring manufacturing back to the U.S.”
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