Trump warns $175B in tariff refunds could be tied

The Supreme Court announced today that most of President Trump’s tariffs have been enacted illegally and will be struck down. 

Ruling 6-3, the court voted against Trump’s use of the Emergency Economic Powers Act to put tariffs on merchandise getting into the United States from around the world. Trump has since criticized the Supreme Court’s choice on his abuse of energy, describing the call as a “disgrace to our” nation and those who didn’t rule in his favor as “very unpatriotic and disloyal to the Constitution.” He also prompt they have been “swayed by foreign interests.”

While not all of his tariffs have been struck down, those that have been could whole up to as a lot as $175 billion in refunds that need to be made, according to Penn-Wharton estimates. 

While talking at a press convention today, Senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy requested, “President Trump, since Liberation Day, there’s about $175 billion in tariff revenue that is now in limbo. Do you have to refund $175 billion?”

“Peter, very fair question,” the president started. “They take months and months to write an opinion, and they don’t even discuss that point.”

“We’ve taken in hundreds of billions of dollars, not millions, hundreds of billions of dollars.” He continued, “And so I said, ‘Well, what happens to all the money that we took in?’ It wasn’t discussed.”

President Trump went on to say, “Wouldn’t you think they would have put one sentence in there saying to keep the money or don’t keep the money?”

Growing annoyed, the president said, “I guess it has to get litigated for the next two years.” He went on, “So, they write this terrible, defective decision. Totally defective. It’s almost like it’s not written by smart people. And what do they do? They don’t even talk about that.”

He didn’t stop there. “Your question is very basic,” he said to Doocy. “That was the first question I asked, to make you feel good.”

He repeated the query, “‘What about all the money that we’ve taken in, sir?’ They don’t discuss that. How crazy is that?”

Another reporter chimed in, “What you’re saying is, are you saying that you don’t plan to honor refunds for companies that file for them?”

Seemingly irritated, Trump requested, “I just told you the answer, right?”

He said, “I told you the answer. It’s not discussed. We’ll end up being in court for the next 5 years.”

Lori Mullins, director of operations at Rogers & Brown Custom Brokers, says her initial view of the Supreme Court decision is that it does not grant or guarantee refunds. “They have remanded this back down to the lower courts to decide if refunds will be issued. Without knowing for certain, many believe that the refunds will not be issued retrospectively,” she said. For importers hoping for refunds, “the answer is yes, we have a ruling, but we do not have a ruling on if any refunds will be granted. That will be handled by a lower court at a future date/ time,” she said.

“Keep in mind also that several countries have also already signed written agreements with specific tariff rates, such as the signed agreement with the UK for a flat 15% tariff. This does not impact those already signed agreements, so we are not sure, right now, how those country-specific agreements will be impacted, if at all,” Mullins added.

Trump wrote in a social media post on Jan. 12 that “it would take many years to figure out what number we are talking about and even, who, when, and where, to pay.” He added, “It would be a complete mess, and almost impossible for our Country to pay.”