Bessent claims tariffs aren't taxes

Treasury Department Secretary Scott Bessent insisted Thursday that tariff are not taxes, defying the widely accepted economic and financial definition of President Trump's top trade tool.

In an exchange about federal revenues coming from Trump’s trade policies, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) pressed Bessent during a Senate Finance Committee hearing, during which the secretary repeated his position that tariffs are not a form of tax.

“Let me ask you this,” Cortez Masto said.