Supreme Court Trump tariffs ruling could put U.S. on hook for $175 billion in refunds, estimate says
Key Points
- The U.S. government could owe more than $175 billion in refunds to importers after the Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision that tariffs unilaterally imposed by President Donald Trump are illegal, a new estimate says.
- The potential refunds to a broad range of companies would be for tariffs already collected by the government since Trump slapped on the duties without authorization from Congress under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA.
- The $175 billion refund estimate from the Penn-Wharton Budget Model was produced at the request of Reuters. The model is a non-partisan fiscal research group at the University of Pennsylvania.
