Bessent to attend Supreme Court session on landmark tariff case

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent plans to go to the Supreme Court on Wednesday to watch oral arguments in a case that could jar President Trump’s trade agenda.

Mr. Bessent, speaking on Fox News, said he wanted to see it unfold firsthand.

“I’m actually going to go and sit hopefully in the front row and listen — have a ringside seat,” he said Monday on “Jesse Watters Primetime.”

Blue states and small, import-reliant businesses say Mr. Trump overstepped by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 to set tariffs on dozens of trading partners.

Lower courts agreed with the plaintiffs, so the justices are taking up the case.

The suing parties said the power to impose duties in this instance should rest with Congress, while the administration says Mr. Trump had to correct trade imbalances with other countries that harm U.S. manufacturing and workers.

“IEEPA is an emergency authority, and we were in an emergency situation. And this is crucial for the U.S. economy,” Mr. Bessent said Tuesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

Mr. Trump says the case is one of the most important issues to go before the Supreme Court in a century. He contends that a ruling against his IEEPA powers would unwind numerous trade deals and force the U.S. to refund billions in customs revenue.

“This is one of the president’s signature policies, and it’d be very unusual for the Supreme Court to overrule [a] president’s signature policy,” Mr. Bessent said Tuesday.

For instance, he said the Supreme Court “gave President Obama a lot of room on Obamacare.”

“President Trump’s two signature policies have been securing the border, which has been an incredible success, and it has been the tariff policy rebalancing U.S. trade,” Mr. Bessent said.

The secretary said Mr. Trump’s use of IEEPA powers helped him get assistance from China and other countries in tackling fentanyl and forced Beijing to rethink its restrictions on rare earth elements.

“If that hadn’t happened, the manufacturing facilities, not only in the U.S., but around the world, would shut down,” Mr. Bessent said. “So, you know, this is an emergency power that he has used during emergencies.”

The small businesses that sued Mr. Trump say the tariffs are taking a toll, however, because they must absorb the cost of the levies when they buy foreign goods or pass along the burden to customers.

The Senate narrowly voted last week to terminate Mr. Trump’s tariff authority regarding Brazil, Canada and other nations, saying the costs and retaliation by other countries were harming U.S. industries.

The GOP-led House is not expected to take up the measures, making them a messaging vehicle for Democrats and anti-tariff Senate Republicans.