Explainer

With Trump’s Tariffs Overturned, Who Gets Refunds?

Shipping containers and cranes at PortMiami in Miami.Photographer: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg

The scramble to get tariff refunds is on. But dissecting what could be a multi-year “mess” in the courts, as US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh put it, is still unfolding.

The Supreme Court’s Feb. 20 decision struck down duties President Donald Trump’s administration imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA — but it didn’t directly address refunds. It’s up to the lower US Court of International Trade to determine whether refunds will be available, how they will be doled out, and to whom.