The U.S. is not projecting any changes to the tariff revenue it will take in this year as President Trump is reissuing tariffs the Supreme Court struck down under different legal authority, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday.
Mr. Bessent said the Supreme Court’s ruling was narrowly tailored to block tariffs issued under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act and the administration has other tariff authority it can cite to accomplish its goals.
“The president, the administration remains undeterred in reshoring American factories and getting rid of these massive trade imbalances,” Mr. Bessent said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in three separate Sunday show appearances that the administration is able to reconstruct its tariff program under different legal authorities. “Now, it doesn’t have the same flexibility that the president had under the previous authority that he was using, but it gives us very durable tools,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Mr. Trump has announced a 15% global tariff issued under section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. That authority is valid for 150 days, after which it would have to be renewed by Congress.
Mr. Bessent said there may not be a need for Congress to vote on tariffs because the administration is using the “five-month bridge” to conduct investigations needed to impose the tariffs under longer lasting authority.
“The revenue for the U.S. Treasury for 2026, the projections, are unchanged,” he said.
The Commerce Department is investigating what tariffs could be issued under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which authorizes the president to impose duties or quotas on imports deemed a national security threat.
Mr. Trump has already issued tariffs on steel, aliminum and autos using the Section 232 authority. Mr. Greer said anything involving manufacturing and “things that people might think are ho-hum commodities” can be relevant to U.S. national security. The U.S. Trade Representative is exploring tariffs that can be issued under Section 301 of the Trade Act, which is aimed at counteracting unfair foreign trade practices, primarily directed at China.
Mr. Greer said his office has already opened Section 301 investigations of Brazil and China and expects to open others into Asian countries that make more than they consume.
“They crush prices throughout the world because they’re not following basic economics,” he said. “They’re just building factories to build them and keep people employed.” “It is very likely that those studies will result in higher 232s, higher 301s, and it will get us back to the same tariff level,”
Mr. Bessent said “it is very likely” that the Section 232 and Section 301 investigations will allow the U.S. to get back to the same tariff level as before the Supreme Court’s decision. Those two tariff authorities have withstood more than 4,000 legal challenges since Mr. Trump’s first term, he said.
Mr. Greer agreed that the administration can proceed with the existing tariff authorities rather than asking Congress to pass a new law.
“We’re happy to talk to them about it, but we’re not going to stop our program. We’ll just use the congressional authorities they’ve extended already for now,” he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Mr. Greer and Mr. Bessent said the Supreme Court ruling has not affected trade deals the tariffs helped spark. “We have been in touch with our foreign trading partners, and all of them want to keep the trade deals that have been set,” Mr. Bessent said.
The secretary declined to commit to the Treasury issuing refunds to companies that paid tariffs that were issued under the IEPPA authority the Supreme Court struck down.
The court’s ruling did not address the issue of whether the tariff revenue needs to be refunded.
“The Supreme Court remanded it down to a lower court, and we will follow what they say, but that could be weeks or months when we hear them,” Mr. Bessent said.
Democrats appearing on the Sunday shows urged the Trump administration to issue refunds immediately and end all of the tariffs, which they argue have hurt American consumers.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said on CNN that his state was the first to sue the Trump administration over its illegal use of the IEEPA authority and that the Supreme Court agreed with their arguments.
Mr. Trump “needs to refund that money with interest,” he said, noting the administration could issue electronic refunds “in a nanosecond.”
The president issuing a new 15% global tariff is “about petulance,” Mr Newsom said. “He’s flailing. He’s a punch-drunk boxer. He’s just trying to hit anything, a shadow. And he’s a shadow of himself. He’s lost a step or two.”
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.
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