Supreme Court justices weigh refund process for Trump tariffs [View all]

Source: Politico

11/05/2025 03:07 PM EST


The Supreme Court on Wednesday contemplated the process for paying back billions in tariffs the Trump administration has collected, should the justices rule those duties are illegal.

“How would this work? It seems to me like this could be a mess,” Justice Amy Coney Barrett asked Neal Katyal, the lead counsel representing a group of small-business plaintiffs. Those businesses, along with a dozen Democratic-led states, have challenged the duties Trump imposed on dozens of countries under a 1977 law known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, in a consolidated set of cases that has speedily worked its way through the federal court system.

Katyal told the court that only the businesses directly involved in the case before the Supreme Court would automatically be entitled to refunds should the tariffs be struck down, noting that others would likely have to challenge the duties through a separate process to protest duties that have been paid.

“With respect to everyone else, there is a whole, specialized body of trade law,” Katyal said, spelling out the procedures. “It’s a very complicated thing. There’s got to be an administrative protest,” he added, noting that similar reimbursement procedures have often been lengthy. “So, a mess,” Barrett responded.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/05/supreme-court-examines-complications-if-trump-tariffs-are-refunded-00637820