‘Who Writes That Check?’ MSNBC Host Finally Gets Treasury Secretary To Admit Trump’s Tariffs Are Paid by Americans

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent acknowledged that the tariffs that President Donald Trump has imposed on scores of countries are paid by Americans.

The president imposed sweeping tariffs on imports from nearly 100 countries in April. Since that time, he has paused, raised, and lowered various tariffs, depending on which country the imports are coming from. Trump has repeatedly claimed that the tariffs are paid by the countries exporting the goods to the U.S., but in fact, they are paid by the companies importing the products. But later, the president appeared to backtrack when he said that U.S. companies will have to “eat” tariffs.

Bessent joined Thursday’s Morning Joe on MSNBC, where Eugene Robinson asked for some clarification:

ROBINSON: Mr. Secretary, there’s one question I gotta ask you, because there has been some confusion. So, we’ve got a tariff of, what, 50% on Brazil now, I think. And so if someone here, an importer, wants to buy Brazilian products today or tomorrow and import them, they’re gonna pay 50% to the Treasury. And so who writes that check?

BESSENT: Well, it– a couple of things. First, we could have substitutions. So there’s very little that only comes from Brazil. It could come from Argentina. It could come from–

ROBINSON:  Right, but assuming it does come from Brazil, say, or it comes from any country with a tariff, who writes the check to the Treasury?

BESSENT: Well, the check is written to the person who receives it at the dock in the U.S.

ROBINSON: Hold it. The check is written by the person–

BESSENT: Who receives it.

ROBINSON: Who receives it at the dock. So, the tariffs is paid in this country by the importer. Is that right?

BESSENT: But the Brazilian exporter could decide that they want to keep market share. They could lower their price so that the full 50% of the tariff, say–

ROBINSON: Right, they could eat part of the cost. They could eat part of the tariff, too.

BESSENT: Which is what we’ve seen.

ROBINSON: Uh huh. Ok, ok, but the check is written by the importer right at the dock?

BESSENT: Yeah, and then, you know, the importer can pass it on or not.

Watch above via MSNBC.