Administration officials have warned that a ruling against the tariffs could create economic chaos.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Jan. 18 said he believes it’s unlikely the U.S. Supreme Court will overturn the Trump administration’s tariffs under an emergency law.
“I believe that it is very unlikely that the Supreme Court will overrule a president’s signature economic policy,” the secretary said on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” referring to tariffs.
“They did not overrule Obamacare; I believe that the Supreme Court does not want to create chaos.”
The nation’s highest court is considering a case on whether the Trump administration illegally imposed a broad range of tariffs last year under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), after multiple lower courts ruled against the policy.
It’s not clear when the Supreme Court will rule on the case.
The tariffs have been imposed on virtually every country under the law’s emergency provision. Some companies, including warehouse chain Costco, have sued the Trump administration over the provision.
Arguing that the Trump administration’s use of the emergency provision was justified, Bessent said, “Europe is being overrun with Chinese goods. There is now an emergency in Europe. There is going to be an economic emergency.”
Bessent made reference to a set of tariffs that President Donald Trump imposed on China, Mexico, and Canada over the trafficking of fentanyl into the United States.
“Guess what’s happened to fentanyl deaths?” he asked, likely referring to federal data showing a drop in fentanyl-related overdose deaths throughout 2025. “If that’s an emergency, I don’t know what is.”
Tariffs, under the emergency law, were also used to target China after its regime threatened to impose worldwide rare earth export controls. After Trump threatened tariffs, Bessent said that the “Chinese came to the table, and we negotiated on behalf of the whole world.”
Previously, both Trump and Bessent have said that the administration has other authorities, beyond the IEPPA, to impose tariffs if the Supreme Court rules against the administration, but that such action would be slower and more cumbersome.
The president has warned that should the high court overturn the tariffs, it could lead to a U.S. economic and national security disaster. Trump also said that the tariffs have granted his administration leverage in dealing with other countries, namely in ending wars.
“The biggest threat in history to United States National Security would be a negative decision on Tariffs by the U.S. Supreme Court,” he wrote in a Truth Social post last month. “We would be financially defenseless.”
