U.S. companies should give Trump tariff refunds to workers as bonuses or raises: Greer

American companies that end up getting up to $165 billion or so in refunds for President Donald Trump’s newly voided “reciprocal” tariffs should give that money to their workers as bonuses or raises, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Friday.

Greer’s suggestion, made in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” comes as hundreds of American importers, including Costco

and FedEx

, have filed lawsuits seeking refunds for the money they paid in tariffs that were ruled illegal by the Supreme Court in a 6-3 vote on Feb. 20.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection official told a Court of International Trade judge in a filing on Thursday that development of an online system that will process refund claim requests is 70% completed.