Trump Treasury Secretary Crashes When Asked Easy Question on Tariffs
Scott Bessent glitched as he tried to answer a question about the real costs of tariffs.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stumbled and deflected when asked a simple, direct question about tariffs at a congressional hearing on Tuesday.
“Who pays tariffs Mr. Secretary?” asked Representative Mark Pocan.
Bessent began to ramble on indirectly, frustrating Pocan. “Who pays tariffs? Mr. Secretary, please the question is very simply who pays tariffs. Mr. Chairman, I’d like him to answer that question, he wants to answer other questions.”
Bessent replied shakily. “Well congressman, if the. Congressman, if the exporters, the uh, dislike tariffs so much, why wouldn’t they. If, I think what you’re trying to get me to say—”
“Did you remember the question? I’m not sure you did,” Pocan said. “Who pays tariffs?”
‘It’s a very complicated question.”
“Reclaiming my time. People pay tariffs, right?”
“No, no, no,” Bessent muttered, while Pocan reclaimed his time.
“You clearly aren’t gonna answer, I’m not gonna waste my time having you go ‘uh uh uh uh.’”
The Trump administration is doing everything in its power to gaslight Americans into thinking that the tariffs will be positive, that we’ll just have some short term discomfort before everything is cheap and made in America again. That couldn’t be farther from the truth.
a stammering Bessent refuses to answer Mark Pocan's question about who pays tariffs pic.twitter.com/ah1uaiW6gg
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 6, 2025