The government collected about $166 billion in emergency-powers tariffs that the Supreme Court later ruled unlawful. As of Oct. 2, more than 75% of it had been refunded with interest.
Every dollar went to importers.
About 330,000 importers paid the duties. Nearly 7,000 of them have sued, in about 4,000 lawsuits. The shoppers who may have covered some of the cost through higher prices are not getting any of it.
Who gets paid, and who does not
Refunds go to the importer of record, the party that paid the government. As of Oct. 2, Customs and Border Protection had accepted refund claims through its online portal and sent about $126 billion to the Treasury Department for disbursement.
On Oct. 8, a federal trade court certified a class of importers that had not sued on their own, the second class it has ever certified.
The Justice Department is still fighting parts of this. It filed a partial appeal on June 3, arguing the court lacks jurisdiction for a universal refund order.
Shoppers are suing
Customers have filed proposed class actions against retailers including Costco, Amazon, Lululemon and Fabletics, arguing that any refund should be passed back to the people who paid inflated prices. Their claims include unjust enrichment and violations of state consumer protection laws.
Costco is fighting back. In a May motion to dismiss an Illinois member’s suit in federal court in Chicago, it called the case speculative and said the customer who sued got what he paid for at accurately posted prices. The same filing acknowledged that Costco had raised some prices in response to tariffs.
CEO Ron Vachris pledged in March to return any refunds to members through lower prices, and in an August filing Costco said it had received about a third of the refunds it is owed and had started cutting some prices.
The defenses are not trivial. Retailers can argue they absorbed tariffs in thinner margins, which would undercut the claim that shoppers paid the full cost. Tariff costs folded into a sticker price are hard to trace to a single purchase.
Terms of sale with arbitration clauses and class action waivers could also push claims out of court.
What a shopper can do
Do not expect a check. Refunds flow to importers, no government program pays shoppers, and only a few companies have promised to pass their refunds straight to customers.
Watch what the stores you use say about their refunds. Costco and Walmart have both pledged to put refunds toward lower future prices, and plaintiffs suing Costco are using its pledge against it in court.
If a price drops after you buy, some big stores will refund the difference if you ask within their windows.
Keep order confirmations for big purchases made from February 2025 through February 2026 in case a settlement ever asks for them, and read the terms of sale of stores you use heavily, since arbitration clauses could limit your options.
Importers have until at least Feb. 4, 2027, to file refund cases. Consumers have no such calendar.
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