900+ Trump tariff claims demand refunds: Doc
The businesses that sued over Trump's tariffs formally registered refund demands, as have FedEx and hundreds of other businesses.
All Rise News presents live coverage of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s vindictive prosecution hearing in Nashville on Thursday morning. If you’re not yet a subscriber, don’t miss any breaking news and support the on-the-ground journalism that makes it possible.
The U.S. court system may soon adjudicate an avalanche of tariff refund claims, including from the coalition of businesses that defeated Donald Trump’s global tariffs regime at the Supreme Court.
“Over 900 of those claims are currently stayed pending final resolution of this case, and the refund process in this case can be used as a template for providing swift relief in those other actions as well,” attorney Neal Katyal, who led oral arguments against the tariffs, wrote in an 18-page filing on Tuesday.
His motion sought a permanent injunction resolving claims filed by five businesses that long opposed Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs: V.O.S. Selections, Genova Pipe, MicroKits, FishUSA, and Terry Precision Cycling.
When the Court of International Trade initially ruled against Trump, the government promised to refund the tariffs with interest in order to keep the tariffs alive pending appeal.
Trump’s Justice Department made the same vow to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the intermediate court that ruled against the government.
“Because the Federal Circuit granted the stay based on the motion with this representation, Defendants are now judicially estopped from retracting their stipulation or challenging the injunctive relief necessary to ensure refunds here,” Katyal added, referring to the legal principal barring a party from reneging on its previous agreement.
Trump indicated that he will try to back out of his position, saying of the refunds: “I guess it has to get litigated for the next two years.”
A database search shows that roughly a half dozen other “recovery of customs duties” cases poured into the Court of International Trade this week, including an action filed by FedEx.
According to USA Today, experts doubt that the refunds would make consumers whole.
In a video interview for Legal AF, George Mason University law Professor Ilya Somin told All Rise News that the government “does owe the money.”
“They have to keep their word, and ideally, the repayments could happen quickly,” Somin said. “The government has the money, and they have records of who paid the tariffs and how much.”
Watch my full interview with Professor Somin below.
Read Katyal’s motion for permanent injunctive relief here.
I think Trump should personally pay back the tariffs. He unilaterally imposed them. He should unilaterally pay.
Was the Illinois invoice for all the households there only so much political theater? It seemed to me that this whole time we are only talking about refunding the businesses. Consumers are still screwed regardless...