Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday on CNBC's "Squawk Box" that even a Supreme Court loss of the tariff case before it doesn't mean the end of tariffs for President Donald Trump.
Oral arguments are scheduled for Wednesday, and the case has been fast-tracked because of the urgency surrounding the situation.
Bessent said he was confident Trump will prevail in the case, which challenges his authority to impose tariffs without an act of Congress.
But even if Trump loses, Bessent said, there are still lots of options for using other authorities to get the job done.
“There are lots of other authorities that can be used, but IEEPA is by far the cleanest, and it gives the U.S. and the president the most negotiating authority,” he said. “The others are more cumbersome, but they can be effective.”
Bessent went on to detail some of the options.
Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 uses national security to justify tariffs, while Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 regulates unfair trading practices.
Both of these options would only allow the president to impose tariffs during a state of emergency, however. While Trump has declared a state of emergency over the border and crime in some cities, I don't see how these would translate to the tariff situation.
Trump is somehow convinced that income from tariffs is going to pay off our national debt and make us solvent again, but I really don't see this happening either. He called the case "life or death" for the U.S. on Tuesday just ahead of the arguments in the case.
Bessent believes that the Supreme Court will be reluctant to "interfere" with tariffs when they are told the policy is a "signature" one for the president.
“This is very important tomorrow, and SCOTUS is going to hear this,” Bessent said. “This is a signature policy for the president, and traditionally, SCOTUS has been loath to interfere with these signature policies.”
This could be true, but if the law states it isn't under Trump's purview to impose tariffs, it probably won't matter whether it's a "signature" policy or not.
Trump has used tariffs and the threat of tariffs to get more favorable terms with U.S. trading partners after years of the U.S. letting other nations take advantage of its relative wealth and status.
But that wealth and status are more in doubt than ever with $38 trillion in debt hanging over our heads. If Trump can somehow turn that around, he will be one of the greatest presidents in history.
