A coalition of over 800 small businesses that were bruised by President Trump’s global tariffs is calling for refunds after the Supreme Court struck them down on Friday.
The group, called We Pay the Tariffs, is demanding “full, fast and automatic” refunds – though Trump suggested in a heated press conference the idea is a non-starter.
“Our coalition members, who through hard work, late nights, and sweat equity built local businesses, have paid billions in tariffs that never should have been imposed,” the anti-tariff group’s Executive Director Dan Anthony said in a statement.
The court’s 6-3 decision didn’t address whether the government would have to repay the tariff revenue it already has collected.
Trump sounded a defiant stance Friday, promising to impose a new global 10% tariff and rejecting the idea of refunds.
“I guess it has to get litigated for the next two years. So they write this terrible, defective decision, totally defective. It’s almost like not written by smart people,” he said.
Pressed on the matter, he said: “I just told you the answer, right? I told you the answer. It’s not discussed. We’ll end up being in court for the next five years.”
Still, members of We Pay Tariffs, which includes restaurants, manufacturers and retailers, said refunds were a matter of necessity.
“The burden on our business has been substantial leading to layoffs and halting all growth plans,” Rick Muskat, president of New York-based shoe company Deer Stags Concepts said in a statement shared by We Pay the Tariffs.
“The process for US Customs to process the refunds should be simple since Customs billed these additional tariffs at the line-item level on the Customs Entry forms.”
Last year, the US collected $289 billion in revenue from gross tariff and certain other excise taxes, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. In 2024, $98 billion was brought in.
