U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren said on Thursday that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent should work to return money to consumers after the Supreme Court ruled that former President Donald Trump’s tariffs were imposed without lawful authority.

Speaking on The Source with Kaitlan Collins, Warren said the ruling meant revenue collected under the tariff program had been taken unlawfully and should be repaid to U.S. households. “Scott Bessent is not there just to lick the boots of Donald Trump. He is there to represent the people of the United States of America, and to give them back their money,” Warren said.

"Scott Bessent is not there just to lick the boots of Donald Trump. He is there to represent the people of the United States of America and to give them back their money," Sen. Elizabeth Warren says, criticizing Bessent after he said he doubts Americans will see tariff refunds. pic.twitter.com/L8Ij42M5Vf

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) February 21, 2026

The court’s decision invalidated Trump’s use of emergency powers to impose broad tariffs, finding that the statute cited by the administration did not authorize such measures. The ruling did not address whether consumers or businesses should receive refunds for duties already paid, which government estimates place at more than $130 billion.

Trump said earlier on Thursday that the court did not resolve the issue of refunds and suggested the matter would need to be litigated separately. “They don’t even discuss that point,” he said, referring to the opinion. “What happens to all the money that we took in? … I guess it has to get litigated for the next two years”

PETER DOOCY: "Do you have to refund $175 billion dollars?"

PRESIDENT TRUMP: "They take months and months to write an opinion and they don't even discuss that point."

"We've taken in hundreds of billions of dollars, not millions, hundreds of billions of dollars. And so I said,… pic.twitter.com/WhIRLShkDh

— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 20, 2026

Warren said the administration should begin developing a plan to return the funds. She argued that most of the cost of the tariffs was passed on to consumers through higher prices. “That money was not legally taken from the American people,” she said. “It was taken through tariffs that were unlawful.”

Bessent, when asked about refunds, said he did not expect consumers to receive the money. Warren criticized those comments, saying the Treasury Department should be focused on determining how repayment could be carried out.

“For him to sit there, and put his fingers together, and smirk about the fact that the American people have lost, on average, somewhere around $1,500, $1,800, $2,000 per family, and that that’s just OK with him, because he sure doesn’t intend to send it back, that is fundamentally wrong,” Warren said.

She said refunds should be directed to households rather than corporations that initially paid the tariffs and later passed the costs along to customers. Returning the money only to businesses, she said, would leave consumers without relief.

Trump responded to the ruling by announcing a temporary 10% global tariff and said his administration would pursue other legal tools to impose trade restrictions. Warren said the court’s decision placed limits on presidential authority to act unilaterally on trade policy.

🚨 President Donald J. Trump imposes a 10% global tariff on all countries. pic.twitter.com/42ZGDnMxbR

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 20, 2026

“No president has the ability just to go around and say, ‘I don’t like you, your tariffs will be higher,’” she said, adding that the ruling reaffirmed statutory limits on executive power.

The dispute over refunds has become a focal point of political debate following the decision, with several Democratic officials calling for repayment and the White House signaling resistance. Warren said the responsibility now lies with the Treasury Department to determine how funds could be returned to consumers.

“You know how much you took in,” she said. “You know that American families paid for it. Give them back the money.”