U.S. businesses begin receiving refunds for tariffs invalidated by Supreme Court ruling

Tuesday, May 12, 2026Business & MarketsWell-covered4 frames

Businesses in the U.S. began receiving federal refunds on May 12 for tariffs imposed in 2025 under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
The Supreme Court ruled in February that President Donald Trump lacked legal authority under IEEPA to impose those tariffs.
As of May 11, Customs and Border Protection had finalized refund calculations including interest totaling about $35.46 billion.
CBP said it had received 126,237 refund applications and validated 86,874 of them, covering 15.1 million eligible entries.
Of the eligible entries, 8.3 million shipments had been finalized for refunds with interest by May 11.
Up to $166 billion in tariff collections imposed under IEEPA are subject to refunds, making the repayment process financially important for importers.
A separate dispute over Trump's newer 10% global tariff remains unresolved: a federal appeals court temporarily paused a lower-court ruling against that tariff, allowing collection to continue for now while the appeal proceeds.

How left and right are reading this

Both agree: Tariffs collected under IEEPA are now being repaid at massive scale because the Supreme Court found the policy lacked legal authority, leaving importers and the government to unwind billions of dollars while related tariff litigation continues.
They split on: Less a disagreement than a question of emphasis: the business exposure and repayment burden created when unlawful tariffs are collected first, versus the broader need for trade measures to rest on legal authority courts will uphold.

Businesses in the U.S. began receiving federal refunds on May 12 for tariffs imposed in 2025 under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
The Supreme Court ruled in February that President Donald Trump lacked legal authority under IEEPA to impose those tariffs.
As of May 11, Customs and Border Protection had finalized refund calculations including interest totaling about $35.46 billion.
CBP said it had received 126,237 refund applications and validated 86,874 of them, covering 15.1 million eligible entries.
Of the eligible entries, 8.3 million shipments had been finalized for refunds with interest by May 11.
Up to $166 billion in tariff collections imposed under IEEPA are subject to refunds, making the repayment process financially important for importers.
A separate dispute over Trump's newer 10% global tariff remains unresolved: a federal appeals court temporarily paused a lower-court ruling against that tariff, allowing collection to continue for now while the appeal proceeds.