Supreme Court ruling could refund $175 billion in tariffs
Thousands of businesses won a hard-fought victory when the US Supreme Court ruled to overturn the White House's emergency tariffs. The process of getting refunds has only just begun.
In a decision that could ripple throughout the global economy for years, the court ruled that US President Donald Trump was not allowed to use the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to levy broad tariffs on imports.
The corporate world has spent months adjusting to Trump's often-evolving trade policy and his central use of tariffs for his agenda, not just to address trade issues but also as a cudgel against other governments' policies and actions.
Now, thousands of businesses - and not just those that sued the administration - will decide whether to pursue refunds, as it means more than $175 billion in US tariffs collected could be refunded, Penn-Wharton Budget Model economists said on Friday.
Stock markets rose in the United States and Europe, led by shares of affected companies, including Europe's luxury brands from LVMH (LVMH.PA), opens new tab to Hermes (HRMS.PA), opens new tab and Italian luxury outerwear group Moncler (MONC.MI), opens new tab, all of which rose after the ruling.
Thousands of Lawsuits
Companies across consumer goods, automotive, manufacturing and apparel have been hit particularly hard as they depend on low‑cost production in China, Vietnam, India and other sourcing hubs. Trump's duties raise the cost of importing finished goods and components, squeezing margins and disrupting finely tuned global supply chains.
More than 1,800 tariff‑related suits have been filed with the US Court of International Trade, which has jurisdiction over tariffs and customs matters, since April, compared with less than two dozen such cases in all of 2024.
Prominent plaintiffs include subsidiaries of Japan's Toyota Group, US big-box retailer Costco (COST.O), opens new tab, tire maker Goodyear Tire & Rubber (GT.O), opens new tab, aluminum company Alcoa (AA.N), opens new tab, Japanese motorcycle maker Kawasaki Motors and Paris-listed eyewear giant EssilorLuxottica (ESLX.PA), opens new tab.
Several lawyers said many more companies around the globe are likely to join the suits, having waited until the ruling to not draw unwanted attention. They'll join a queue of companies who could be waiting for months to years to recoup the billions of dollars in import duties. The refund process is likely to be slow, and lawyers have said those that sued early will likely get repaid more swiftly.
"Companies face the challenge of gathering detailed import data to calculate the tariffs paid under various regimes, which were applied over different time periods. Even multinational firms may not have all their data neatly organized," said Nabeel Yousef, partner at law firm Freshfields. Even with the Friday ruling, it's not as if "on Monday, companies are going to start getting checks in the mail," he said.
The high tariffs have heaped costs on consumers already weary from several years of post-COVID inflation. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said last week that 90% of Trump's tariffs are borne by American consumers and companies, pushing back against the White House’s argument that the levies are paid by foreigners.
As of November, the effective US tariff rate was 11.7%, compared with an average of 2.7% between 2022 and 2024, according to the Yale Budget Lab.