Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was finally able to admit that tariffs are indeed a tax on American importers and consumers, as Trump’s tariffs affecting virtually the entire world took effect on Thursday.
“We’ve got a tariff of 50 percent on Brazil now, I think. And so, if um, someone here, an importer, wants to buy Brazilian products today or tomorrow and import them, they’re gonna pay 50 percent through the Treasury,” MSNBC’s Eugene Robinson said to Bessent, explaining the policy to the treasury secretary as if he were a child. “So who writes that check?”
Bessent has had some issues answering this question directly in the recent past, and he began to equivocate once again.
“So the tariff is paid in this country by the importer, is that right?” — Eugene Robinson guides Scott Bessent into acknowledging that tariffs are in fact paid in the United States, not by foreign governments pic.twitter.com/uB3QqAsmpe
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 7, 2025
“Well, couple of things. First, we could have substitutions, so there’s very little that only comes from Brazil,” Bessent replied. “It could come from Argentina, it could come from—”
“But assuming it does come from Brazil, say, or it comes from any country with a tariff,” Robinson said, pulling him back to the actual question. “Who writes the check to the Treasury?”
“Well, the check is written to the person who receives it at the dock, in the U.S.”
“Mhm, the check, is, quote, ‘written by the person who receives it at the dock.’ So the tariff is paid in this country by the importer, is that right?” Robinson said, again highlighting the crux of the matter.
“But the Brazilian exporter could decide that they wanna keep market share, they could lower their price to the full 50 percent of the tariff—”
“Right, they could eat part of the cost.”
“Which is what we’ve seen,” Bessent continued unconvincingly.
“Uh-huh, OK, OK. But the check is written by the importer right, at the dock?”
“Right, and then the importer can pass it on or not.”
Not only is Bessent doing everything in his power to avoid the truth of the situation—U.S. importers foot the bill here—he’s also spinning pipe dreams regarding the likelihood of American companies or other countries willingly volunteering to “eat part of the cost.” Trump’s tariffs will raise prices on importers, and those importers will pass those prices on to consumers. Products from Brazil, India, and countless other countries will grow more expensive. Trump has already publicly feuded with Walmart after the corporation said it would refuse to eat tariff costs and would raise prices.
“Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain. Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS last year, far more than expected,” Trump wrote in May. “Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, ‘EAT THE TARIFFS,’ and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!”
American consumers should expect more lies and business confrontations from this administration while prices everywhere rise.