Peter Schiff Shreds Scott Bessent For Denying Trump Tariffs Are Taxes: ‘Disqualifies Him From Job As Treasury Secretary'

Economist Peter Schiff on Sunday took a swipe at Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s comments on the economy, markets, and tariffs, even as he made the case against a rate cut by the Federal Reserve.

Bessent’s denial that President Donald Trump’s tariffs are a tax and that they are a significant revenue source did not go down well with Schiff. In a post on X, the economist said he sees two reasons for such a denial: “1. Bessent doesn’t understand what taxes are. 2. He lied to avoid embarrassing Trump. Either possibility disqualifies him from his job as Treasury Secretary,” he said.

While appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press, Bessent said that if the Supreme Court were to rule the tariffs are illegal, the Treasury would have to refund about half the tariffs, which he said would be “terrible for the treasury.”

After the appeals court ruled the tariffs declared by Trump under the “International Economic Energy Powers Act” were illegal, the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to review the decision.

Bessent was also asked on the show whether he acknowledged that the tariffs are a tax on U.S. consumers, due to the pass-through effect. He said, “I don’t know.”

Schiff weighed in on Bessent’s comments about the labor market weakness, which he used as a premise for his argument for a Fed rate cut.

“Scott Bessent said the weak jobs numbers prove Trump was right that the Fed is too late to cut rates,” the economist said. “But those numbers also prove that Trump was wrong to take credit for a booming economy. The economy and labor market are weaker now than under Biden, but with rising inflation.”

He also countered Bessent’s remarks about the record-high stock market being proof of the success of Trump’s economic policies. “By that same benchmark, Biden's economic policies, which Trump called the worst in history, were also a success.”

Bessent’s claim about stock market buoyancy, however, is accurate. The S&P 500 Index, a measure of broader U.S. market performance, trades just shy of its record high. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the S&P 500 Index, and the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) have gained 11.10% and 12.98%, respectively, for the year.

In a separate post, Schiff referred to Labor Sec. Chavez-DeRemer’s comments regarding Fed Chair Jerome Powell being required to cut rates now, following the weak August payrolls report. “But rate cuts now will harm the labor market by weakening the dollar, driving up consumer prices, and pushing long-term interest rates higher,” the economist said.

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