Secretary Bessent, how do you think the court case went today? The Supreme Court hearing.
Uh, I think it went very well. I think the Solicitor General made a very powerful case for the need for the president to have the IEEPA powers, and I believe that the other side, th- -- in a, in a way, fell flat on their face. But th- -- that'll be up to SCOTUS.
Secretary Bessent, what's the plan B if the Supreme Court ultimately rules against the president's powers over IEEPA?
Uh, w- -- we're not gonna discuss that now.
Secretary Bessent, can you elaborate, Secretary Bessent, can you elaborate on what the president means when he says this case is literally a case of life and death, sir?
Well, i- -- it gives him the ultimate negotiating authority. And if you wanna talk about l- -- life and death, let's talk about the Fentanyl tariffs. That is life and death. Hundreds of thousands of Americans die every year, and the Fentanyl tariffs brought the Chinese to the negotiating table in Busan, Korea, and we have taken them down by a half.
And for the first time, the Chinese have agreed to take dow- -- to work with the US on the precursor chemicals. So that is life and death. That we are, we were at a tipping point in the economy, with these trade deficits. The, uh, that was a problem. And, you know, sometimes, the best tariffs are the ones that never get enforced.
That, you know, the president threatened 100% tariffs after the Chinese, on October 8th, threatened to put export control, controls on rare earth magnets from Chinese products that had .01%. Every camera, every iPhone here would've been subject to a Chinese control. Because he had the ability to threaten the 100% tariff, he was able to successfully execute on foreign policy.
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Uh, this is about the IRS Direct File program will be canceled. What's the rationale behind that?
Uh, I, I think that we have better alternatives. It wasn't used very much and we think that the private sector can do a better job.
Mr. Secretary? Mr. Secretary, if I may.
Mr. Secretary, Mr. Secretary, the economy, the economy was a major driver in getting folks to the polls yesterday. Has the administration done enough to address the daily costs of life and the cost of living?
Well, the first thing we had to do was to stop the incredible Biden-flation. And, you know, if, if you look, MIT just published a story, or a study, that said 42-44% of the inflation came from the huge budget deficit that the Biden administration ran up. We've actually brought the deficit down. So before we can address the affordability, we had to s- -- the, uh, stop the arc up. And we are working every day.
Gasoline prices are down. Interest rates are down. And I, I believe we have a great economic story to tell. I am also the IRS commissioner. And what we are seeing is that working Americans, uh, from the One Big Beautiful Bill, no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on social security, deductibility of older loans, that Americans are going to be getting very substantial refunds in the first quarter.
They'll change their withholding, they'll get real, the, uh, wage increases then. And, you know, the other thing too, there's affordability on one side and there are wage increases on the other. And under President Trump, working Americans have already seen real wage increases before those four plans kick in.
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Secretary Bessent? Secretary Bessent? Uh, the, the administration has done a good job of making sure the US dollar is stronger. Gold has recently dropped nearly 20% since its 10 year high. Is the treasury confident in gold prices falling, that this will result in a stronger US dollar?
Yeah, we, we don't focus the, uh, on the gold price. What we focus on in terms of the US dollar is making sure that the underlying fundamentals are there that will continue to keep the US the reserve currency of the world. We believe that we have put that in place.
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The president has acknowledged that his party is being, uh, is partially blamed for the shutdown [Inaudible]. Is it time for him to convene congressional leaders here to try to reach a deal for an end to the shutdown?
No, what it is time is for five brave moderate Democratic senators to come across the aisle, be heroes, and open up the government. That's all it takes. The fir- - the, the, the, the --
Why not negotiate with Democrats then?
What are you negotiating on? What are you negotiating on?
They're asking for an ACA substitute.
Y- --Yeah, and for the entire period it's been, open the government and we'll negotiate.
Mr. Secretary, about the tariffs, if I may? About the tariffs?
[Inaudible] today as, as the Solicitor General was making the argument, saying that actually the revenue from tariffs is just incidental. Both you and President Trump have outed how much money has come from the tariffs. So is it the argument that John Sauer made in court today that they are not designed to, to really generate revenue, or is it what you have posited Trump had said outside of the court?
No, no, no, I think you're confused, Caitlin. The, the -- It is, they are coincident, and I have said many times before, that tariffs are a shrinking ice cube. You begin with the tariff income because you put up the tariff wall. The ultimate goal is balance. So we want to bring back manufacturing, so as it happens tariff income will go down, the incoming tax receipts domestically will go up, domestic manufacturing will go up. So it is, the goal is balance.
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You are talking about what the administration has done in terms of cost of living but when do you think that voters will actually start feeling that? Is it when the, um, tax returns happen next year? Like, when do people actually feel [Inaudible]
We, we, well, I, I, I, I, I think they're already feeling it, the, uh, at, at the gas pump. And, you know, we'll,we'll see. We're actually going through a treasury and doing a, a study on blue state red state because a lot of the problems lies with the state governments. You know, when you look, what was the issue in New Jersey?
Energy prices. Who did that? Governor Murphy. The, uh -- what's the problem in New York? Energy prices. Who does that? Governor Hochul. So, th- -- you know, there are things we can control, and I think we will. And I think 2026 is going to be a gangbuster year. We are already seeing it, that there's affordability and there's wage growth.
And we are already seeing much stronger real wage growth for working Americans than we ever did under the Biden administration.
Mr. Secretary, Last week we saw how the President of the United States called the President of Colombia "a drug leader." And then he was included in the OFAC list. Uh, could you give us a little more details on that and ha-
No, I, I, I, can't really, uh, do that.
Secretary, wh- -- when are the negotiations started with Brazil [Inaudible]
Sir. Mr. Secretary, very quick. Just to understand the justices clearly were contemplating what would happen if they struck down these tariffs. Are you or how are you preparing for that contingency?
Well, I, I, I just said we're gonna, we're gonna cross that-
Is there no preparation for a contingency though?
We, uh, the, uh, that's your words, not mine, and it's a silly statement, so don't make it.
Mr. Secretary --
So, the, uh -- We, we are confident. And especially after today, I, I believe that the, uh, Solicitor General made a great case. I actually thought that the two plaintiff's attorneys in a way embarrassed themselves because at one point there was a question, "So you believe that the President of the United States has the authority to embargo a coun- -- country, but does not have the authority to assert a 1% tariff?" And the plaintiff's attorney was forced to say yes.
Can you explain [Inaudible] --
So, com- -- completely nonsensical. Thanks, everybody.
Thank you, Mr. Secretary.