Trump Administration Begins Refunding $166 Billion In Tariffs (nytimes.com)
- Reference: 0181812312
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/04/20/1711231/trump-administration-begins-refunding-166-billion-in-tariffs
- Source link: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/business/trump-administration-tariff-refunds.html
> For some U.S. businesses, the highly anticipated refunds could be substantial, offering critical if belated financial relief. Tariffs are taxes on imports, so the president's trade policies have served as a great burden for companies that rely on foreign goods. Many have had to choose whether to absorb the duties, cut other costs or pass on the expenses to consumers. By Monday morning, those companies can begin to submit documentation to the government to recover what they paid in illegal tariffs.
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> In a sign of the demand, more than 3,000 businesses, including FedEx and Costco, have already sued the Trump administration in a bid to secure their refunds, with some cases filed even before the Supreme Court's ruling. But only the entities that officially paid the tariffs are eligible to recover that money. That means that the fuller universe of people affected by Mr. Trump's policies -- including millions of Americans who paid higher prices for the products they bought -- are not able to apply for direct relief.
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> The extent to which consumers realize any gain hinges on whether businesses share the proceeds, something that few have publicly committed to do. Some have started to band together in class-action lawsuits in the hopes of receiving a payout. Many business owners said they weren't sure how easy the tariff refund process would be, particularly given Mr. Trump's stated opposition to returning the money. The administration has suggested that it may be months before companies see any money. Adding to the uncertainty, the White House has declined to say if it might still try to return to court in a bid to halt some or all of the refunds.
The money will mostly go to importers and companies, since they were the ones that directly paid the tariffs. While individual refunds with interest could take around 60 to 90 days to process, the overall effort will probably move much more slowly because of how large and complicated it will be.
There are also legal questions around whether companies would have to pass any of that money on to consumers. Slashdot reader AmiMoJo commented: "This is perhaps the biggest transfer of wealth in American history. Most of those companies will just pocket the refund and not pass any of it on to the consumer. If prices go down at all, they won't be back to pre-tariff levels. You paid the tariffs, but you ain't getting the refund."
[1] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/02/20/1529240/us-supreme-court-rejects-trumps-global-tariffs
[2] https://slashdot.org/~hcs_%24reboot
[3] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/03/06/2224256/trump-administration-says-it-cant-process-tariff-refunds-because-of-computer-problems
[4] https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/business/trump-administration-tariff-refunds.html
corrupt (Score:5, Interesting)
Ah, yes, of course. Refund the very companies that increased prices and made far more money than they should have, by just giving them even more money.
Not, you know, average out the entirety of the tariff intake and disperse them to the American people. Besent had his son buy up tariff 'debt' months before this ruling, knowing it would fall, so that he can be 'refunded' if it ever came to fruition. Essentially buying up the rights to the returns from the companies for pennies, and then asking the government to pay out the full amount.
Most corrupt administration in American history, that's for sure.
Re: (Score:1)
I can't wait to get my refund from the companies that charged me for the tariffs, he said sarcastically.
Tariff refunds - cards against humanity. (Score:3, Interesting)
Cards Against Humanity has already promised to refund your tariffs.
[1]https://www.getyourfuckingmone... [getyourfuc...eyback.com]
[1] https://www.getyourfuckingmoneyback.com/
Re: (Score:3)
Honestly, I don't think most smaller companies can and stay afloat at this point. Their sales tanked in general due to the price rises. One of the points of the tariffs was to destroy small businesses. Dell and HP could just absorb the cost or use their existing inventory, while smaller shops like HYTE just pulled out of the US market entirely for a bit.
I paid one tariff directly and it was to FedEx. I wonder if/when I'll get a notice about getting that one back. All the others I'm sure got absorbed somew
Re: (Score:1)
The justification is simple.
The government collected money from these companies illegally.
Therefore, they must return the illegally collected money to the companies they collected it from.
I see no problem with that. In fact, any other action would be unjustifiable.
Re:corrupt (Score:5, Insightful)
They increased prices on consumers to pay for the tariffs, this is known. The consumer collective paid for it, the consumers should be refunded directly, the consumers paid the price, not the megacorps (the largest benefactor from this).
Re: (Score:3)
> They increased prices on consumers to pay for the tariffs, this is known
How are you going to pay "the consumers" back? Everybody an equal share? How about those people who intentionally buy American and hardly buy anything else? Should they be reimbursed? Do you have receipts that show how much extra you paid? Without a doubt, prices were raised. But quite often a lot of businesses chose to reduce their own profit - i.e. the costs of the tariffs were shared and prices weren't raised as much as the costs. Sorting this sort of thing out is just about impossible.
I don't understand
Re: (Score:3)
Responding to myself to add a point.
Businesses that raised their prices likely lost sales. Basic Econ 101 that most goods have lower sales when prices go up. So a business simply repaying the tariffs to its customers is likely to be a net loser. These businesses will not ever fully refund the tariffs paid.
Re: (Score:2)
> They increased prices on consumers to pay for the tariffs, this is known. The consumer collective paid for it, the consumers should be refunded directly, the consumers paid the price, not the megacorps (the largest benefactor from this).
In the end, there will be no attempt to force the corporations to repay the consumers. We gave up on treating humans as important in the face of corporations at some point in the 1980s. From that point forward, corporations and the ultra-wealthy who found them, have been deemed far more important than consumer class individuals. The government being forced to hand money back to the corporations will most likely be fine and dandy. Anything beyond that? No go. Consumers are fodder, cattle for the collective t
Re: (Score:2)
No, this is absurd from a legal standpoint.
If I overpay my taxes, the Government doesn't go search for every tenant I may have overcharged as a result of my increased costs.
I see a lot of people with opinions like yours- people who just... missed... some kind of critical thinking education.
The court cannot order the Government to undo the illegal transactions by sending them to people it did not collect them from, no matter how much it makes your feels more fuzzy.
Re: (Score:2)
This is why you lose. If you weren't trying to misrepresent what I said, then you're actually just functionally fucking stupid- life-long fry cook type shit.
I didn't justify fraud in the slightest. Refusing to justify demanding a Constitutional authority overstep its mandate to make you feel better is not justifying the result of it not doing so.
I suppose repatriation of the funds to the populace- but that is not the purview of the Supreme Court. That requires the executive, or an act of Congress to for
Re: (Score:2)
*support
Re: (Score:2)
Some consumers (like myself) paid directly. I bought a bunch of car parts from Europe a year ago that were illegally taxed. Of course the system is not user friendly for individuals who need to process a few invoices.
Re:corrupt (Score:4, Informative)
Yes, it is the most corrupt administration in American history.
However, you do not have a full picture of the damage those tariffs caused. They totally screwed many small businesses that will never get back what they lost. A lot of businesses sourced their raw materials and other products from outside the U.S. The tariffs caused them to be unable to afford that stuff. So they had to reject the shipments which meant they had nothing to sell. Try accounting for the business you lost because you had nothing to sell. Also, many small companies went titsup because of those tariffs. The owners will never be made whole.
Now if you took the $166 Billion and divide by roughly 300 million Americans, then we all get about $553. However, you did not pay the tariffs, Companies did. Some were able to pass the tariff cost in their products. Most were not, especially the small companies and certainly not the small companies that went out of business.
Number 1 Rule of el Bunko: he destroys everything he touches. And the Maggots made that asshole president, at least they get to pay for higher gasoline for their stupidity.
Re: (Score:2)
> Some were able to pass the tariff cost in their products. Most were not, especially the small companies and certainly not the small companies that went out of business.
You DO know that over 96% of the tariffs were paid for by consumers, and not the importers, don't you? "Some" my ass.
Re: (Score:2)
The American public imposed an illegal tax that it now has to refund to the entities that paid it. Using the money to distribute cheques to that same public isn't a good solution.
Don't like it? Don't vote for criminals or the people who let them get away with their crimes. You didn't in the first place? Welcome to being part of a society.
Let's Just Recap (Score:5, Insightful)
Dickhead imposed tariffs that were obviously illegal
Congressional dickheads refused to assert their checks against the obviously illegal tariffs
Businesses paid many billions for the obviously illegal tariffs and passed on much of that cost to consumers
Businesses get paid back the money (plus interest) for the obviously illegal tariffs
Consumers get no relief from the additional costs of the obviously illegal tariffs but do have the privilege of having their tax dollars pay for the interest on the obviously illegal tariffs
Yup, seems about right.
> The extent to which consumers realize any gain hinges on whether businesses share the proceeds
Oh, that is fucking hilarious. History is consistent when it comes to being ruled by elites who are this fucking tonedeaf. Do they not fear the Mario Bros.?
Re: (Score:2)
I think it's pretty clear that the supreme court ruled in favor of big businesses getting financial relief in addition to providing relief from the tariffs going forward. Relief provided to the average citizen is minimal. Not a surprise, just a reminder of who really runs the country.
Re: (Score:2)
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of anyone who paid a tariff to the Government being refunded.
Do you think it's appropriate for the Supreme Court to order the Government to instead disburse those funds to the populace as a whole?
You're a reminder of why we're fucking doomed.
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe you didn't read the post I replied to...
The original post points out the path that got us to our current situation (tariffs needing to be refunded). They correctly point out that the relief will stop with the company receiving compensation for the money they paid in tariffs. A consumer who made a purchase during that time will not receive relief. The consumer can decide not to use products from that business in the future, but that doesn't really resolve anything, does it? I pointed out that we have a
Re: (Score:2)
> Did I say the supreme court needed to provide downstream relief, or did you imagine that so you could pop off with some obvious point?
You implied it when you said:
> I think it's pretty clear that the supreme court ruled in favor of big businesses getting financial relief in addition to providing relief from the tariffs going forward.
No, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of one of the parties of the lawsuit.
and:
> Not a surprise, just a reminder of who really runs the country.
Because the Supreme Court didn't overstep its Constitutional bounds to make you feel better?
Re: (Score:2)
> Do you think it's appropriate for the Supreme Court to order the Government to instead disburse those funds to the populace as a whole?
That would be more just than paying it back, with interest, to conglomerates that passed those costs onto customers.
> You're a reminder of why we're fucking doomed.
Says the person bitching and moaning that people dare demand the government represent their interests and not just the interests of multi-billion dollar corporations.
Re: (Score:2)
> That would be more just than paying it back, with interest, to conglomerates that passed those costs onto customers.
Those who handed the money off to the Governement, yes.
> Says the person bitching and moaning that people dare demand the government represent their interests and not just the interests of multi-billion dollar corporations.
Says the ignorant fuck who doesn't know what the Supreme Court does.
The Supreme Court does not represent your interests. It represents the interests of 2 parties fairly under the law.
What you want needs to be done by the legislature, or executive branches.
Re:Let's Just Recap (Score:4, Interesting)
> (...)
> Consumers get no relief from the additional costs of the obviously illegal tariffs but do have the privilege of having their tax dollars pay for the interest on the obviously illegal tariffs
You forgot one final item:
A considerable percentage of the most affected customers blame the additional costs on the previous administration and continue to vote for the same people...
Re: (Score:2)
Continuing:
Dickhead starts a war which is a plausible reason for continued inflation
Businesses keep prices anchored even higher than the tariff-level highs
Consumers also do not get relief going forward either
Re: (Score:2)
I don't think you know what "transfer of wealth" means, which is weird since it was such a widely used talking point by your guys in the past.
Transfer of wealth means movement of wealth from one class to another- in this case, the consumers to the rich.
AmiMoJo is wrong, but not because taxes exist.
Whoever moderated you insightful should probably go play in traffic for their negative contribution to humanity. You as well.
Re: (Score:2)
> Yes, it has that figurative meaning but there's also an ACTUAL meaning to the words, no.
And you're wrong there as well, as the overwhelming majority of that tax is in fact wealth that nobody ever had- it was withheld before you were paid.
> AmiMoJos statement was stupid and I'm explaining how **using an example in the PRECISE context that he/she did, the transfer of wealth to/from government**.
That is not how they used it. You just had a literacy failure moment. It happens.
What they actually said: This is perhaps the biggest transfer of wealth in American history. Most of those companies will just pocket the refund and not pass any of it on to the consumer
Clearly referring from the consumer to the company.
> I would assume your cunt routinely has no emotions, in reality.
Quite happy, to the contrary.
Do you feel
If your upper middle class (Score:1, Informative)
You got about 748 from Trump's tax cuts. You're gonna pay around 740 more in gas this year. Factor in inflation from tariffs and you're out about $1200.
Son, are you winning?
Re:If your upper middle class (Score:4, Informative)
Gas prices were still on average lower under Biden, and if you look at that graph, his taking of the office was an immediate relaxed insanity of the exponential increase left by trump. If anything, this just proves how effective he was at handling the global crisis, and the 'repair' of the work done from the damage of his predecessor.
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Notice they never want to say fucking why the gas prices were high in each of these two instances.
Wait, I am cofused (Score:5, Funny)
Didn't the other countries pay these? All the people in the administration insisted this was so. Therefore, shouldn't these refunds be going to China?
Re:Wait, I am cofused (Score:5, Funny)
That'll happen right after Mexico gets reimbursed for The Wall.
so being legal or not the consumer gets screwed (Score:2)
this must be Joe or Hunter Biden's fault...
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I'm certain the answer can be found somewhere on Hunter's laptop!
Costco has no excuses (Score:2)
They know exactly what I've bought from them and when, so computing the tariffs I've paid through them is a matter of database queries.
They know how to give the money back to me - they send me a credit based on my executive membership every year, and that would be an acceptable and minimally painful way to refund the tariff windfall. They could give Costco store credit cards to non-executive members.
Re: (Score:2)
> The President is the closest of all elected officials to the People
No, the president is elected by the states. Members of Congress are elected by the people.
Some have voiced an opinion that the president should be elected by the people, but so far, we have not yet amended the constitution to permit that.
Re: (Score:2)
Depending on which state you are in there is still an option out there that is actually closer then I thought actually:
[1]National Popular Vote Interstate Compact [wikipedia.org]
One thing's for sure is the SC case if this happens will be wild.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact
Re: (Score:2)
The president would still be elected by the states. A "compact" is an agreement by the states involved that they'll vote in a particular way. Some states already have laws that require them to vote the way their states' own popular vote indicates. Others don't.
A pedantic distinction? Not really. Agreements like that, or even most of the state-level laws, can be changed pretty much any time. It's a band-aid fix because the real fix is too hard to implement. And even the band-aid hasn't been successful even a
DOGE (Score:2)
Good job the government cut spending so this $160B of illegal taxation won't just add to the deficit. They did make thoughtful and intelligent cuts right? right???
Well- (Score:2)
I actually had my fingers crossed, AAAANNNDDDDD You didn't say no backsies and whoops, no money! Sorry, we broke- Fighting not-wars and funding federal jump-out squads is not cheap!
Tough luck.
Does anybody actually think this administration even has the money to pay back? This is going to be the biggest shitshow in American history. We're going to be talking about "the tariff refund scandal" for decades.
Call me crazy (Score:2)
Trump should personally be on the hook to pay those interest payments. He knew these tariffs were illegal but decided to push thru with them anyways.
We need a new law called the presidential accountability act that outlines if a president causes excessive financial damage to the country, they and their entire administration gets booted the curb and a new government is elected.
The submission and fealty of Jeff Bezos (Score:2)
Anyone remember when Trump did his first tariff spree, Amazon was going to show a tariff surcharge on its orders. So you could tell how much of the bill was due to tariffs.
Trump had a fit. Fake News! Democrat Traitors! Socialism!
Guess what Amazon did or didn't do? It would have been useful about now -- you could put in a claim for those surcharges. But do you think Bezos would risk the ire of Trump?
So the rich get richer... sounds familiar (Score:2)
So big businesses just get to keep all the extra money that they collected from American's... and get to keep prices high. Once they raise prices, what is the incentive to reduce them?
I thought foreign countries would pay? (Score:2)
So the president LIED to us, when he said foreign countries would pay for the tariffs? I'm so disappointed, I can tell you.
From THIS government ?!? (Score:3)
Of course, I'd trust this government to honour the decision of the courts and pay back what they've unfairly taken. There are SO MANY things I trust them on....