Scott Bessent says tariff revenue will remain virtually unchanged despite Supreme Court ruling

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent went on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures with a message that boiled down to: don’t worry about it. Despite a Supreme Court ruling that invalidated certain emergency tariff authorities, Bessent told viewers that tariff revenue would be “virtually unchanged” this year and beyond, with collections hovering near the $175 billion mark from the prior year. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog, has projected that without effective replacement measures, the ruling could blow a $1.9 trillion hole in federal revenue through 2036. The ruling and its fallout The Supreme Court decision, handed down in February 2026, struck down tariff measures that had been imposed using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The law was originally designed for national security emergencies, not as a permanent trade policy lever. Bessent’s answer is that the Treasury Department’s remaining tariff authorities, combined with other trade mechanisms, will fill the gap. The projections from his team suggest tariff collections could eventually reach as high as $500 billion annually, a figure that would represent a nearly thre...