Trump Treasury Nominee Claims Foreign Companies Will Pay the Most for Increased Tariffs. An Independent Report Found Otherwise

Scott Bessent, Donald Trump's nominee for treasury secretary, claimed foreign companies would pay the most for increased tariffs, a policy Trump ran on in the latest presidential election.

When asked by Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden who would pay Trump's proposed tariffs, Bessent, a billionaire hedge fund manager, asked Wyden whether he thought the tariffs were a consumption tax increase.

"I believe these tariffs, you can call it whatever you want in terms of trying to gussy it up, they're gonna be paid for by our workers and small businesses," Wyden said before adding he believed Trump's claim tariffs would be paid for by foreign companies was "bologna."

Bessent "respectfully disagreed" before citing the optimal tariff theory, proposing a 10% tariff would allow currency to appreciate by 4%.

"Finally, foreign manufacturers, especially China, especially China, which is trying to export their way out of their current economic malaise, will continue cutting prices to maintain market share," Bessent stated.

"That's an academic view of it, but what I know, it's the history of this, is it clobbers people of modest means. They're the people who are gonna get hit and all through the campaign there was a big show that it was going to be paid for by foreigners. Not so," Sen. Wyden retorted.

An independent report created by the United International Trade Commission in 2023 supported Wyden's assertion. It found that American importers "bore nearly the full cost of these tariffs because import prices increased at the same rate as the tariffs," estimating princes increased by about 1% for each 1% increase in tariffs.