The News
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Semafor Monday that he plans to write a brief for the solicitor general to file that defends the Trump administration’s tariffs ahead of a likely Supreme Court ruling on their legality.
A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the tariffs are an overreach of the president’s emergency powers, though the levies were left in place amid an expected appeal to the Supreme Court. Bessent predicted that the justices would ultimately rule in the administration’s favor; the administration faces an Oct. 14 deadline for initiating its appeal.
“Everyone says, ‘Well, we’ve had these trade deficits a long time. How is it an emergency?’” Bessent said. “There’s this idea of a tipping point. … Are we approaching — and I believe we are — an unsustainable equilibrium that would have caused financial instability? Is the president using his emergency powers to truncate a financial crisis? What if someone had done that for housing in ’05 or ’06?”
“The president has stood up and said, ‘These trade deficits keep getting bigger and bigger. Our insanity needs to stop,’” Bessent added.
The secretary spoke from a booth at Metro 29 Diner in Arlington, Va., on his second stop of a Labor Day tour of local restaurants to tout the tax break on tips that was recently enacted as part of Republicans’ sweeping tax-and-spending law.
He ordered an omelette with a side of grits, scribbled “No Tax on Tips!” at the top of his receipt, and posed for pictures with his servers, one of whom has worked at the diner since the 90s.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
The View From SCOTT BESSENT
Eleanor Mueller: Like you, congressional Republicans have spent their recess touting the new law’s tax breaks in the hope of shifting focus away from its less-popular health care provisions. Do you think the GOP has been successful in moving the needle this month?
Scott Bessent: I was out in Wyoming last week, and I was at an ice cream stand, and I asked the kids behind the counter, “What do you think of no tax on tips?” They said, “There’s no tax on tips?” So I think part of it is getting the word out.
And then I think part two is … it’s going to flow through to the bottom line of the American household — and my guess is that it will come from big refunds in ’26 rather than … withholding for this year.
Do you think that the health care provisions have made it more difficult to market the bill?
No, I think the Democrats’ lies have. … 5 million [able-bodied Medicaid recipients added to the rolls] is [their] Obamacare change … A huge provision [of the new law] is the work requirement.
Do you expect Americans will conflate the lapse of Affordable Care Act subsidies at the end of the year with the “big, beautiful bill” when it comes to higher health care costs?
I don’t know — but I can tell you, the one thing we’re not going to do is what the Biden people did, and say, “You don’t understand how good you have it. This is a vibe-cession. Things are great.” We are listening to the American people, and we are going to fix this. The first step towards fixing the affordability crisis was bending the inflation curve, which has happened, and then we can start addressing it.
Beef prices are at a five-year high — but it took us five years to get there. Eggs, they weren’t easy to fix; [Agriculture] Secretary [Brooke] Rollins and the president did a great job doing it. Beef is a longer cycle.
As far as inflation goes, you’ve said the interview process for Federal Reserve chair candidates starts tomorrow. What does that process look like?
It’s going to start, depending on where they’re based, either [with] Zoom or in-person interviews. Many of the people I know; many of them, the first time I’ve ever spoken to them, was to ask if they would like to be considered.
Any frontrunners in your mind?
I have an open mind. My guess is it’ll be a mix of people I’ve known and [are] familiar to the president, and one or two people who have great interviews, great ideas, and open minds.
I think there’s a very good chance that Stephen Miran is seated before the September meeting. CEA Chair Miran is an incredible person and academic; eminently qualified.
And then the quality of the candidates we’re interviewing … I mean, if you look at that list, it’s an incredible list. … The other two seats, likely, those will likely come from — several candidates on that list are also candidates for governor.
Can we expect the Justice Department to formally charge Governor Lisa Cook with mortgage fraud soon?
I haven’t been in touch with [Attorney General Pam] Bondi. … It’s her arena. But [Cook] hasn’t said she didn’t do it. She’s just saying the president doesn’t have the authority [to fire her].
What do you make of markets’ subdued response to her attempted removal?
We were just at a new high. Bond market is calm. Currency markets are calm. So I think the markets understand the president maybe doesn’t like some of the people [who] are holding the positions now, but he has incredible reverence for the Fed. He and I have had detailed discussions about what kind of person it should be, their qualifications, things like that.
Have you had any conversations with congressional Republican leaders about bringing legislation banning member stock trading to the floor soon?
I’ve had conversations with individual Republicans in the House and the Senate. I haven’t gotten pushback. I haven’t spoken to the leadership about bringing it to the floor — but again, it goes back to trust in institutions. … This is unacceptable.