The Treasury currently has $774 billion, more than enough to cover refunds if the Supreme Court rules against the government, Scott Bessent says.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that his department can easily cover any refunds related to tariffs if the Supreme Court rules against the administration on their legality.
“It won’t be a problem if we have to do it, but I can tell you that if it happens—which I don’t think it’s going to—it’s just a corporate boondoggle,” Bessent told Reuters in an interview over the weekend. “Costco, who’s suing the U.S. government, are they going to give the money back to their clients?”
The Treasury currently has $774 billion, more than enough to cover any potential refunds if the Supreme Court issues such an order, Bessent said.
“We’re not talking about the money all goes out in a day,” the secretary said. “Probably over weeks, months, may take over a year, right?”
Bessent said that companies, however, have not been passing the tariff costs on to consumers, saying there was “very, very little, if any, pass-through,” and disputed that President Donald Trump’s tariffs contributed to inflation. He said goods inflation had been below headline inflation.
While there had been speculation that the Supreme Court would issue a tariff-related ruling on Jan. 9, the high court only released one opinion, related to a criminal case. The justices set Jan. 14 as the court’s next date for issuing orders.
Last week, Bessent said during an event at the Economic Club of Minnesota that he expects the Supreme Court to issue a mixed ruling. “If they rule against us, then it will be some kind of a mishmash of ‘you can do this; you can’t do that.’”
The Treasury secretary told Reuters that he expects Treasury budget data for calendar year 2025 to show a deficit reduction of $300 billion to $400 billion from calendar 2024, providing additional capacity. The government operates on a fiscal-year basis, reporting a deficit of $1.775 trillion for fiscal 2025, which ended on Sept. 30.
