NBC’s Kristen Welker grilled Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about the administration’s case heading to the Supreme Court over its right to impose tariffs, Sunday on “Meet the Press.”

KRISTEN WELKER: I do want to talk to you about the battle playing in the courts. I know you’ve been deeply involved in this, the so-called “reciprocal tariff” suffered a big setback when an appeals court ruled they were illegal because tariffs are a tax, and only Congress can impose taxes, unless it explicitly gives that power to the president. You’re appealing to the Supreme Court now. What is your plan if President Trump’s tariffs are struck down by the high court? SEC. SCOTT BESSENT: Well, there’s a lot to unpack there, Kristen. So let’s do it in a couple of segments. One, the president is using something called IEEPA, the International Economic Energy Powers Act. And thus far we have two kinds of tariffs. There’s fentanyl tariffs and the reciprocal tariffs. So I’m not sure on what planet this fentanyl crisis with 100, 200 thousand Americans being killed every year with poison coming across the border. Why can the president not use tariffs to stop that? Two, on the reciprocal tariffs, we have reached a tipping point in terms of our trade balance. That is what has created the emergency situation. And we are trying to bring the trade into balance. KRISTEN WELKER: But Mr. Secretary, I hear you talking about fentanyl. But these tariffs apply to practically every single country around the globe. But let me ask you. If the Supreme Court rules against you on these tariffs, is the administration prepared to offer rebates? SEC. SCOTT BESSENT: So, Kristen, I am confident that we will win at the Supreme Court. But there are numerous other avenues that we can take. They diminish President Trump’s negotiating position. But there are numerous in terms of – and remember this isn’t about the dollars. This is about balance. The dollars are an after amount. KRISTEN WELKER: Would you offer rebates, though? Are you prepared to offer rebates? SEC. SCOTT BESSENT: So we would have to give a refund on about half the tariffs which would be terrible for the treasury. KRISTEN WELKER: And you’re prepared to give those refunds? SEC. SCOTT BESSENT: Well, I mean, there’s no “be prepared.” If the court says it, we’d have to do it. But, you know, let’s look back. Again when I was here in April, the sky was falling with the tariffs, that everyone is leaving the U.S. Since then, the U.S. bond market has been the best performing bond market in the developed world. And from Barclays Bank to Goldman Sachs to others are saying it is the tariff income and the fiscal improvement that we are seeing. And that’s what President Trump is talking about.

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