US refunds $100bn of Donald Trump’s ‘liberation day’ tariffs

📰 source: theguardian_business · 💼 business

the trump administration has refunded about $100bn in tariffs collected before the supreme court ruled them illegal, per customs officials reporting to the us court of international trade. that's 60% of the $165bn taken in from 'liberation day' tariffs.

the refunds follow february's supreme court decision striking down a chunk of the extra duties. the federal deficit hit $1.37tn in the first nine months of the fiscal year, up 2% on 2025, despite trump's tariff pitch. last month he imposed fresh levies on 80+ countries, ranging 10-12.5%, covering the uk, mexico, canada, australia, india, china and the eu's 27 states, under section 301 of the trade act.

this week 25 states sued the administration, calling the new tariffs a pretext for replacing struck-down import taxes. they say the levies cover 99.4% of us imports and have asked the court to stop them and order refunds. new york attorney general letitia james said trump was 'once again trying to illegally raise taxes on families and businesses.'

why it matters: state lawsuits and forced refunds signal legal risk to trump tariff strategy, potentially reversing billions in trade revenue.

source: theguardian_business
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