The Trump administration has refunded about $100bn from Liberation Day tariffs after the US supreme court ruled a chunk of the duties illegal. Customs officials reported the figure to the US court of international trade on Tuesday. The refunds equal 60% of the $165bn collected from the tariffs.
That means companies that paid the levies before the February ruling have already had a large share of their money returned. The remaining question is how much more, if any, still has to be paid back.
US court of international trade
The February ruling struck down part of the extra tariffs Donald Trump had imposed. After that decision, the government was forced to return money to the companies that had paid them. The reported $100bn refund is the clearest public measure yet of how far that reversal has gone.
Trump imposed a fresh round of tariffs on more than 80 countries last month, replacing a 10% global duty that was due to expire. The new levies range between 10% and 12.5% on countries including the UK, Mexico, Canada, Australia, India, China and the EU’s 27 members states.
Letitia James and 25 US states
A coalition of 25 US states sued the Trump administration this week over the levies and asked the US court of international trade to stop the tariffs, declare them unlawful and order refunds of duties that have already been paid. The states said the tariffs on 59 countries and the EU cover 99.4% of US imports.
Letitia James said the Trump administration was “once again trying to illegally raise taxes on families and businesses with a new round of tariffs”. Officials in the Trump administration said the countries have not done enough to crack down on products made by forced labour.
That leaves the refund fight still open in court. Customs officials have now put a floor under the money already returned, but the states are still pressing for the tariffs to be stopped and for any duties already collected to be handed back.
