INDUSTRY NEWS | ANALYSIS
Costco was among more than 3,000 companies that had sued the Trump administration over the tariffs.
Consumer lawsuits loom as tariff refund portal opens Estimated $166 billion at stake as importers file for government reimbursement
CONSUMERS who have paid higher prices because of the tariffs that were imposed last year are expected to file more class-action lawsuits against retailers, manufacturers and importers, according to reports. Several such suits had already been filed against companies including Costco, FedEx and UPS before the portal for busi- nesses to apply for tariff refunds opened in mid-April. The U.S. owes an estimated $166 billion to businesses who paid the tariffs during the past year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled they were illegally applied. (A new, temporary tariff imposed by the Trump administration is also being contested in court.) “In the coming weeks, these [consumer class-action] cases are likely to proliferate,” according to an online post by global law firm Reed Smith. Consumers themselves cannot apply for refunds through the portal, and few are expected to receive any reimbursement from retailers. However, FedEx has pledged
to refund customers who were charged higher prices for items shipped from over- seas because of the tariffs. Costco was among more than 3,000 companies that had sued the Trump administration over the tariffs. In March, a shopper in Illinois sued Costco, claiming that the retailer raised prices because of the tariffs and owes its customers refunds. (Costco said it did not increase prices because of tariffs and said it would apply any refund toward lowering its prices.) The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Febru- ary that the tariffs that President Trump imposed under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act were illegal because the IEEPA does not autho- rize such power to the president. A judge at the U.S. Court of International Trade subsequently ruled that the tariffs should be repaid to the businesses that paid them. Beginning in mid-April, Costco and other companies that paid tariffs on imported goods under the IEEPA can apply through an online portal for their refunds, plus
interest. It could take several months to process the requests, according to reports, and some reports also said that the admin- istration could sue to halt the refund process. A coalition of small businesses called We Pay the Tariffs is pushing for speedy access to refunds, which it maintains are critical for the survival of many small companies that rely on imports. “For many of us, a timely refund is the difference between rehiring workers, restoring wages and reinvesting in growth, or closing our doors for good,” the group said in a recent online post. “Refunds must be fast—measured in days or weeks, not months or years.” The tariffs, which bounced up and down throughout the past year, impacted a broad range of companies that import products from overseas, including not only distributors and retailers that buy finished products from other countries, but also manufacturers that use imported ingredi- ents or other materials. —Mark Hamstra
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