US refunds $128 billion in tariffs struck down by Supreme Court, filing shows

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration has refunded about US$100 billion (S$128 billion) from tariffs that it collected before the US Supreme Court struck down those duties, a court filing showed.

The court filing in the US Court of International Trade said that “refunds (duties plus interest) of approximately US$100 billion have been completed using the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries Refund component, certified by the agency, and sent to the US Department of (the) Treasury for disbursement”.

The amount as at the end of July was noted in a filing by US Customs officials on Aug 4.

It represented more than half of the US$166 billion collected in tariffs the Supreme Court struck down in February.

US President Donald Trump has made tariffs ​a central pillar of his foreign and trade policies despite criticism from some analysts and legal setbacks.

Critics have complained that the refunds have not reached households but have instead gone to corporate importers.

“Trump is sending the ‘refunds’ to the companies, not working people. Every single cent of these refunds should go back to American consumers,” Democratic Congressman Greg Casar said this week.

The Supreme Court ruled against most of Trump’s widest-ranging tariffs on Feb 20, finding that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not authorise the President to unilaterally impose tariffs on goods imported from trading partners.

Trump responded to that ruling by escalating his trade campaign, calling Supreme Court justices “disloyal” and issuing new temporary 10 per cent tariffs under a different legal authority that, like IEEPA, no president had previously used to impose tariffs.

The US leader then issued another round of global tariffs imposed under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which is meant to combat unfair or discriminatory economic practices by other nations. REUTERS