A pretty good explanation of the next steps around refunding the illegally gathered tariffs.
The U.S. Supreme Court did not say how the government should refund the illegal tariffs, worth an estimated US$175 billion.
www.bnnbloomberg.ca
How will companies get refunds now that the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected Trump’s tariffs?
Did the U.S. Supreme Court say how to refund the money?
No.
The case will now go back to the Court of International Trade to sort through the refunds.
How might refunds be handled?
More than 1,000 lawsuits have been filed by importers in the trade court seeking refunds, and a flood of new cases is likely.
The court ruled in December that it had the power to reopen the final tariff determinations and order the government to pay refunds with interest -- an authority the Trump administration said in court it would not challenge. That decision removed potential legal complications to refunds, according to trade experts.
What will importers have to do to get a refund?
Each importer might have to sue in the Court of International Trade to get a refund, and it is not clear that a class action could be formed to cover the broad range of companies that paid tariffs, legal experts said. Importers have two years to sue to claim a refund, under U.S. trade law.
The process could disproportionately hurt smaller businesses, many of which already suffered more from tariffs than well-funded companies like Costco.
Lawyers for importers said some smaller importers might abandon a potential refund rather than pay thousands of dollars in legal and court fees to bring a case. - so in essence a tax imposed on all small businesses in the US impacted by this.
Is there a precedent for these refunds?
The Court of International Trade has overseen large-scale refunds before. Congress enacted a harbor maintenance tax in 1986 that was assessed on the value of all cargo into and out of U.S. ports. The Supreme Court ruled part of the tax was unconstitutional in 1998. The Court of International Trade oversaw a refund process involving more than 100,000 claimants that was managed by Judge Jane Restani, who remains on the court.