According to a report from Yahoo Finance, companies are scrambling to position themselves if the Supreme Court forces the Trump administration to repay billions in tariff revenue it collected this year. They are doing so without clarity on the best approach and amid much uncertainty about whether any decision to void Trump’s signature tariffs and demand refunds is even on the way.
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“We don’t know how this one is going to go down,” noted Eric Smith Weiss, a partner at GDLSK. He described the ongoing preparations to prepare for several scenarios. “We’re really talking about belts and suspenders,” he said.
Those preparations by the business world include pre-emptive lawsuits against the Trump administration, filing petitions with the US Customs Department, as well as double-checking invoices to make sure they paid exactly what they paid. It’s all to secure a spot in a fare refund line that may or may not ever be in line.
That began in earnest after Supreme Court arguments in early November, when swing justices raised questionable questions about the president’s defense of his tariff authority. An estimated $100 billion in revenue is at risk for the entire US economy. The U.S. government has collected more than $200 billion in taxes since the start of the year, and the Tax Foundation estimates that about 55 percent of that revenue comes from special tariffs that face legal risks.
The Supreme Court case concerns whether a 1977 law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) gives the president the power to impose tariffs. Other tariff powers, such as Section 232 and Section 301 duties, which also bring significant revenue, are not in the court case.
A range of approaches
Costco made headlines last week when it became the largest name in what is still a growing list of businesses suing the Trump administration to ensure they qualify for future reimbursements. The lawsuit called Trump’s IEEPA tariffs “unlawfully levied.” The company told a federal trade court that it is “seeking relief from the impending liquidations to ensure that its right to full repayment is not jeopardized.”
Similar complaints have reportedly been filed by a range of other brands, from Revlon to Ray-Ban, Kawasaki and Bumble Bee Foods. In the field of trade, liquidation refers to the time when the final calculation of debt tariffs for imported goods is done. This process must be completed within one year of taking the first assignment, but usually sooner, around 10-11 months.
Source: IndexBox Market Intelligence Platform
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