Scott Bessent is defiant on whether tariffs are a tax, demands Democrats work to cut actual taxes instead

Scott Bessent (Credit: David Dee Delgado—Getty Images for The New York Times)

Scott Bessent, President Donald Trump’s Treasury secretary, staunchly defended the use of tariffs at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit, in conversation with Andrew Ross Sorkin, strongly asserting he does not believe tariffs are a tax. He pivoted the debate by challenging Democrats who claim tariffs are inflationary to instead “join me and cut taxes, and that will be disinflationary.”

Bessent argued that, behind the scenes, a “huge number” of Democrats are actually in favor of tariffs but can’t say so because they’ve been labeled “the Trump tariffs,” forcing them to avoid deviating “from the hive.” And he insisted he has gotten “a couple of Democrats” to walk into his “bear trap” with their argument tariffs act as a tax. By their own logic, Bessent insisted, if they truly believe taxes are inflationary and therefore bad, they should do the obvious: “So you believe taxes are inflationary. So join me and cut taxes, and that will be disinflationary.”