Will US refund billions collected under tariffs?:What the Supreme Court ruling says about the payback

The US Supreme Court on Friday delivered a major blow to Donald Trump’s trade policy, ruling that his administration’s global tariffs were imposed without lawful authority. The decision could expose the US government to refund claims potentially running into tens of billions of dollars. The court said, The United States may be required to refund billions of dollars to importers who paid the IEEPA tariffs, even though some importers may have already passed on costs to consumers or others. As was acknowledged at oral argument, the refund process is likely to be a “mess.” The court further said, “nothing today about whether, and if so how, the government should go about returning the billions of dollars that it has collected from importers.” In simple language, the court did not clarify whether the money collected through tariffs would be refunded. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who dissented against the court decision, warned that this process could be a ‘mess.’ Potential refund exposure Estimates suggest more than $175 billion in tariff revenue could be subject to refund claims. Scott Bessent, US Treasury Secretary, said the department would be able to cover refunds if required, though the Supreme Court itself cautioned that executing refunds could be complex. Trump criticises ruling Meanwhile, US President Trump has expressed disappointment over the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down his earlier sweeping tariff orders, pointing out that they did not offer clarity on the money collected through these tariffs over the past year. In response to a question at the White House, Trump said, We’ve taken in hundreds of billions of dollars, and so, I say, ‘What happens to all of the money that we took in?’ It wasn’t discussed “Wouldn’t you think they would’ve put one sentence in there saying keep the money or don’t keep the money? I guess it has to get litigated for the next two years. So, they write this terrible, defective decision. It’s almost like being written by not-so-smart people,” the US President added. The US President repeats that refunds were not discussed. We’ll end up in being court for five years
Trump added. Later, Trump signed an executive order imposing a 10% global tariff under federal law known as Section 122, above existing duties. Reactions While most Democrats welcomed the ruling, Elizabeth Warren, top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, cautioned that “there remains no legal mechanism for consumers and many small businesses to recoup the money they have already paid.”