Bessent: US would have to give back half of tariffs if it loses at Supreme Court

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Hill

09/07/25 6:08 PM ET


Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States would have to refund half of the tariffs if has collected if it loses its case on President Trump’s trade agenda at the Supreme Court.

Bessent said he feels “confident” the Trump administration will win the fight to rescue President Trump’s tariffs, but acknowledged it will be costly if there is a loss in the conservative-leaning High Court.

During an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Bessent was asked by host Kristen Welker whether the administration was prepared to offer rebates on the tariffs if the Supreme Court ruled against them. “I am confident that we will win at the Supreme Court,” he said.

Pushed as to whether the administration would “be prepared” to offer rebates, Bessent said the U.S. “would have to give a refund on about half the tariffs,” adding that it “would be terrible for the Treasury.” “There’s no ‘be prepared,'” he said. “If the court says it, we’d have to do it.”

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5490721-trump-tariffs-supreme-court/

[Old Crank]

1. Only half of the stolen money?

Why half?
Every person who had to pay needs to be made whole with interest.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Probably because

they already grifted the rest for themselves.

[thesquanderer]

7. There were already legal tariffs. Maybe the net result of the new tariffs so far was double the revenue.

So that could justify saying they'd have to give back about half of what they've collected, i.e. the amount of the increase over what would have been paid anyway.

[Walleye]

3. I know this game. I used to live in NYC.

It’s called “give me all the money and then we’ll talk about who it belongs to“

[2naSalit]

4. NO...

You stupid fuckhead, you'll have to give back ALL OF IT plus interest. What a crock of stinky shit.

[Irish_Dem]

5. How much will Trump pay the Supreme Court to vote his way on the tariff issue?

[joshdawg]

11. I know of six pairs of hands that will be extended.

[rubbersole]

15. They've already been paid.

From the Leonard Leo Lickspittle Ledger.

[Irish_Dem]

21. The money has to keep rolling in for them.

They are being humiliated and pilloried on a daily basis
because many of us see them as traitors who sold out democracy and
responsible for the deaths and injury to Americans.

The only thing that keeps up the SC justices' spirits is cash.

[groundloop]

6. WHO will they refund?

I'm pretty certain that consumers who ultimately paid these tariffs will be left out.

[thesquanderer]

8. Yes, they could only give them back to the importer who paid them in the first place.

Only the importer would have the ability to know how much was passed along to their customers, on which purchases. They would be in a position to at least theoretically provide refunds, but I doubt there's any realistic way to compel them to do so. Moreover, the importer likely did not sell directly to the final consumer, so there could be one ore more additional links in the chain that could have marked up the cost accordingly before reaching the consumer. So yeah... it's a mess, and the consumer is the likely loser.

[Marthe48]

14. Drop all of the prices on necessities back to pre-Covid levels

for the same length of time the illegal tariffs were in effect. Revoke all of the cuts. Restore peoples' jobs and health coverage. Kick traitor felon and his accomplices out of power.

I can dream.

[rubbersole]

16. 😂

Woke! Socialism! Drop...Revoke...Restore...Kick out...😂

Somebody check her family tree's immigration status going back to the Mayflower landing. Dreaming is no longer allowed. By Executive Order from Dear Leader.

[Marthe48]

20. It's what I am

Not just words here.

[rubbersole]

23. You're wonderful!

[Marthe48]

25. Thank you

Maybe a touch edgy.

[Lovie777]

9. Yep..........

and the corporations who might be reimbursed will they hire back or hire again, or will they enrich themselves again.

The greed is well over the top.

[thesquanderer]

10. re: ""If the court says it, we'd have to do it." - This may be the first time those words were ever uttered by

a member of this administration.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. That was my first thought too when I saw that

But they are also perpetual liars... so...

[travelingthrulife]

12. Good. Maybe you won't be so foolish and lawless next time.

[cstanleytech]

18. Not really.

We already paid higher prices for products to big business to nullify it for them and now they get even more money via a 'return' and that's taxpayer money.
Plus there's zero chance companies will now reduce prices after the Terrible Tariff Tax is gone.
So good? Not really 😞

[cstanleytech]

17. We get double fucked then as we already paid higher prices and then big business gets more money returned to them.

Money that is taxpayer money.

[republianmushroom]

19. Give it back, that is just to damn bad.

Should not of been enacted in the first place, being illegal. Start following the laws of the land and you will not have to give things back.

[Rebl2]

22. Hopefully

they do lose, but that’s doubtful with this Supreme Court.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

24. I am foregoing a lot of things I want...

I know I am going to be spending more money on the things I need, however, like a new pair of running/walking shoes.

[sop]

26. The Lutnick family, Trump Tariff, Cantor Fitzgerald refund scheme:

'Trump’s Commerce Secretary Loves Tariffs. His Former Investment Bank Is Taking Bets Against Them'

"CANTOR FITZGERALD, A financial services company led by the sons of US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, is creating a way for investors to bet that President Donald Trump’s signature tariffs will be struck down in court. Traders at the firm’s investment banking subsidiary, Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., say they have the capacity to buy the rights to hundreds of millions of dollars in potential refunds from companies who have paid Trump’s tariffs, according to documents viewed by WIRED."

"Lutnick ran Cantor Fitzgerald for nearly 30 years until he was confirmed by the Senate in February, when he turned over control of the firm to his sons, Kyle and Brandon, who are both in their twenties. Since joining the Trump administration, Lutnick has emerged as one of the most vocal supporters of the president’s tariff policies, which Lutnick has said would raise 'hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars' in revenue for the United States, eventually eliminating the need for Americans making less than $150,000 to pay taxes."

"But the investment bank that made Lutnick a billionaire is now letting certain clients wager that Trump’s tariffs will eventually be ruled unlawful, at which point companies that have paid the import duties can apply to get their money back."

"In a letter seen by WIRED, a representative from Cantor said the firm was willing to trade tariff refund rights for 20 to 30 percent of what companies have paid in duties. 'So for a company that paid $10 million, they could expect to receive $2-$3 million in a trade,' the representative wrote. 'We have the capacity to trade up to several hundred million of these presently and can likely upsize that in the future to meet potential demand.' "

"Cantor has already landed at least one major deal, according to the letter viewed by WIRED. 'We’ve already put a trade through representing about ~$10 million of IEEPA Rights and anticipate that number will balloon in the coming weeks,' the Cantor representative claimed."

"Experts say the deals are a form of litigation finance, an increasingly popular category of investing in which financial firms seek to make money from potential legal settlements. Many lawsuits can take years to resolve, and the structure can allow individuals and companies to get money upfront or their lawyer fees covered. The catch is that investors may only pay a fraction of what plaintiffs could eventually receive, and profit by pocketing the difference."

Continued at link:

https://www.wired.com/story/cantor-fitzgerald-trump-tariff-refunds/

[Figarosmom]

27. No not half

ALL. All of them for the amount of the increase over what the original tariffs were.