Symbolic imageUS refunds about $100bn of Trump tariffs after Supreme Court ruling
The Trump administration has refunded importers about $100bn of the "liberation day" tariffs, roughly 60% of what it collected. The Supreme Court ruled the levies illegal in February.
What happened
- Customs filings posted to the Court of International Trade on Tuesday, 4 August put claims processed or pending at about $128.68bn.
- The Supreme Court found the emergency law IEEPA did not authorise the duties; a federal court then ordered repayment.
- Total collected under the struck-down tariffs was $165bn (Guardian) to about $166bn (Le Monde, TASS).
- Sectoral duties on steel, aluminium, copper and lumber were untouched by the February ruling.
- New levies of 10% to 12.5%, imposed last month under section 301, now cover some 60 countries and the EU.
The view from outside
Russia's TASS, citing CNBC, puts the emphasis on the administration rebuilding a comparable tariff regime through other legal mechanisms, and quotes Trump saying the ruling only forced it to use a different method.
What could happen next
- Twenty-five Democrat-led states have asked the CIT to void the section 301 levies and order refunds of duties already paid.
- The states argue the new tariffs cover 99.4% of US imports; the administration cites insufficient action against forced labour.
- The federal deficit reached $1.37tn in the first nine months of the fiscal year, up 2% on 2025.
- The filings do not say how much of the $128.68bn in claims is still outstanding.