By Arriana McLymore and Nicholas P. Brown
NEW YORK, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Thousands of businesses won a hard-fought victory when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to overturn the White House's emergency tariffs. The process of getting refunds has only just begun.
In a decision that could ripple throughout the global economy for years, the court ruled that U.S. President Donald Trump was not allowed to use the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to levy broad tariffs on imports.
The corporate world
has spent months adjusting to Trump's often-evolving trade policy and his central use of tariffs for his agenda, not just to address trade issues but also as a cudgel against other governments' policies and actions.
Now, thousands of businesses - and not just those that sued the administration - will decide whether to pursue refunds, as it means more than $175 billion in U.S. tariffs collected could be refunded, Penn-Wharton Budget Model economists said on Friday.
Shares of affected companies reacted positively, including Europe's luxury brands from LVMH to Hermes and Italian luxury outerwear group Moncler, all of which rose after the ruling.
Companies across consumer goods, automotive, manufacturing and apparel have been hit particularly hard as they depend on low‑cost production in China, Vietnam, India and other sourcing hubs. Trump's duties raise the cost of importing finished goods and components, squeezing margins and disrupting finely tuned global supply chains.
More than 1,800 tariff‑related suits have been filed with the U.S. Court of International Trade, which has jurisdiction over tariffs and customs matters, since April, compared with less than two dozen such cases in all of 2024.
Prominent plaintiffs include subsidiaries of Japan's Toyota Group, U.S. big-box retailer Costco, tire maker Goodyear Tire & Rubber, aluminum company Alcoa, Japanese motorcycle maker Kawasaki Motors and Paris-listed eyewear giant EssilorLuxottica.
Several lawyers said many more companies around the globe are likely to join the suits, having waited until the ruling to not draw unwanted attention. They'll join a queue of companies who could be waiting for months to years to recoup the billions of dollars in import duties. The refund process is likely to be slow, and lawyers have said those that sued early will likely get repaid more swiftly.
"Companies face the challenge of gathering detailed import data to calculate the tariffs paid under various regimes, which were applied over different time periods.
Even multinational firms may not have all their data neatly organized," said Nabeel Yousef, partner at law firm Freshfields. Even with the Friday ruling, it's not as if "on Monday, companies are going to start getting checks in the mail," he said.
The high tariffs have heaped costs on consumers already weary from several years of post-COVID inflation. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said last week that 90% of Trump's tariffs are borne by American consumers and companies, pushing back against the White House’s argument that the levies are paid by foreigners.
As of November, the effective U.S. tariff rate was 11.7%, compared with an average of 2.7% between 2022 and 2024, according to the Yale Budget Lab.
MORE SUITS COMING?
While some companies may have been initially hesitant to challenge the Trump administration on tariffs, that attitude shifted after the Supreme Court hearing in November, during which several justices expressed skepticism about Trump’s legal justification for his broad actions on trade.
The logistics surrounding refunds is likely to be left to the U.S. Court of International Trade. In the meantime, Trump officials have said they will continue to use other lawful authority to levy tariffs, including laws that allow the United States to protect against unfair trade practices or shield sectors crucial to national security.
"It's not like tariffs are going away. They're just going to be under a different umbrella," said Ted Murphy, co-leader of Sidley Austin's global arbitration, trade and advocacy practice.
The automotive sector will continue to face significant tariffs that were not levied under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Import tariffs of 25% on vehicles shipped across the border from either Mexico and Canada, for example, were imposed last year based on national-security grounds.
Still, attorneys say that likely thousands of auto parts shipped into the U.S. from countries subject to Trump’s reciprocal tariffs are being hit with the levies, inflating expenses for both parts suppliers and carmakers.
Some U.S. companies, anticipating a slow refund process, have opted to sell their rights to collect those refunds to outside investors. This involves taking a small payment upfront - around 25 to 30 cents on the dollar - while agreeing to forfeit the rest to investors should the tariffs be overturned, Reuters reported in December.
German logistics firm DHL said that it will use its technology to ensure that their customers get refunds "accurately and efficiently" if they are authorized.
It is also not clear whether companies will also lower prices to assuage middle- and lower-income U.S. consumers, who have reined in their spending in response to higher costs.
"We would definitely be filing for a refund as I imagine every other importer would. I highly doubt prices will go down though. That rarely occurs," said Jason Cheung, CEO of small toymaker Huntar Co, which is one of the plaintiffs.
(Reporting by Nicholas Brown and Arriana McLymore in New York; additional reporting by Tom Hals in Delaware and Kalea Hall in Detroit and Christoph Steitz in Frankfurt; Writing by David Gaffen; Editing by Lisa Jucca and Nick Zieminski)
