Trump tariff refunds start hitting importers’ bank accounts

[WASHINGTON] The Trump administration has begun paying out refunds for the US$166 billion in global tariffs that the US Supreme Court declared unlawful earlier this year.

Trade lawyers told Bloomberg News that some of their clients have received money in their bank accounts as at on Wednesday (May 6). One attorney, Daniel Cannistra of Crowell & Moring, declined to name his client or the amount they had received, but did say that the company’s payment included interest. He said that more companies had received notice that they are scheduled to get refund payments starting Thursday.

Chicago-based trade lawyer Mollie Sitkowski, at Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath, said one of her importer clients received US$5,700 on Tuesday for claims filed on Apr 25.

The refund payments mark a milestone in the fierce legal fight over one of the president’s signature economic policies. Hundreds of thousands of importers paid the contested tariffs while the litigation unfolded. The Supreme Court did not resolve the refund question when it ruled against the government in February, spurring another round of wrangling in the US trade court in New York.

US Customs and Border Protection launched a new online refund portal on Apr 20. The agency had said in court filings that the first phase of the refund programme would not be able to accept claims for more than a third of the 53 million import entries at issue, however.

Claims covering roughly 1.74 million entries had cleared the initial validation steps and were in the refund process by the end of April, according to an earlier court filing from a Customs official. Several million entries had been rejected. The government’s next update is due in court on May 12.

Spokespeople for Customs and Treasury did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Customs officials have not specified a schedule for rolling out future phases of the refund programme for imports with more complicated circumstances. The Trump administration has not committed to refunding all of the tariffs it collected under the president’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or Ieepa, although the government did confirm it would pay interest on refunds that it did process.

Only importers that paid tariffs on goods entering the country are eligible to apply for refunds from the US government. A few companies have publicly committed to sharing money that they receive with customers, including FedEx and a game maker that sells the popular party game Cards Against Humanity.

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In the months since the Supreme Court’s decision came down, consumers have filed class action lawsuits across the country against businesses they contend raised prices to cover tariff costs, seeking to recoup that money once refunds are paid. No court has ruled yet in these cases. BLOOMBERG