U.S. refunds $100B in tariffs

The Trump administration said this week it has refunded about $100 billion of tariff revenue collected under President Donald Trump’s 2025 “liberation day” duties after the Supreme Court struck those levies down. A filing in the U.S. Court of International Trade put the refunds at about 60% of the roughly $166 billion the government collected before the court’s ruling, according to Reuters, CNBC and NBC News. The Supreme Court ruled on February 20, 2026, that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act did not authorize the president to impose those tariffs, ending a major part of Trump’s emergency-powers trade program. Legal analyses and reporting on the case said the decision invalidated the “liberation day” tariffs and forced the government to begin repaying importers. (usnews.com) ### How did the refunds get so large? The $166 billion figure reflects the scale of the tariffs before the court intervened. CNBC reported the administration disclosed the refund total in a Tuesday filing, while Reuters said the money had been collected before the Supreme Court struck the duties down. The refunds went first to the companies that paid the tariffs at the border — importers of record — rather than directly to households that may have absorbed higher prices. (taxfoundation.org) NBC News said critics argued the repayments were flowing to companies instead of consumers. ### Which companies got the biggest checks? (cnbc.com) Apple was estimated to have received about $2.2 billion in tariff refunds in the latest quarter, Yahoo Finance reported. The same report estimated Amazon received about $600 million and Nike about $300 million. Amazon has said some of its refund money would be returned to customers, according to follow-up reports carried on MSN, though the broader repayment program has not included direct federal compensation for consumers. (nbcnews.com) ### Why were the original tariffs struck down? February 20 was the key date. (finance.yahoo.com) The Supreme Court held that IEEPA, the sanctions law Trump used for the duties, did not give the president unilateral authority to set tariffs, according to legal summaries of the ruling and subsequent reporting. The case is widely identified as *Learning Resources, Inc. v. (msn.com) Trump*. Public summaries of the decision say the ruling vacated many tariffs imposed during Trump’s second term under that emergency-powers theory. ### What replaced the “liberation day” tariffs? July 24 was the next turning point. Reporting cited in the source briefings said the temporary 10% global tariff expired that day and was replaced by a Section 301 structure covering 60 trading partners at rates of 10% to 12.5%. (taxfoundation.org) The new plan kept tariffs in place on a broad list of countries, including major U.S. trading partners, even after the court blocked the earlier framework. (en.wikipedia.org) CNBC reported the new duties covered goods from 60 trading partners at either 10% or 12.5%. ### Why are states suing again? Twenty-five Democratic-led states sued on August 3, arguing the latest tariffs were an unlawful replacement for duties that courts had already rejected. (invezz.com) CNBC, USA Today and other outlets reported the states said Trump exceeded his authority in imposing the new levies. New York Attorney General Letitia James is leading the coalition, according to reporting on the lawsuit. (cnbc.com) The challenge targets the Section 301 tariffs and asks the courts to block them. ### What happens next? The next milestone is the states’ court challenge to the Section 301 tariffs. (cnbc.com) As that case moves ahead, the government still has roughly $66 billion left to refund if the full $166 billion collected under the struck-down regime is repaid. That arithmetic is based on the administration’s disclosed totals reported this week. (cnbc.com) (foxbusiness.com)