Even for an economy as large as the United States, $70 billion still counts as a significant sum of money. After the first round of President Trump’s tariffs were ruled illegal by the Supreme Court, customs officials have already issued that amount in refund checks. Here’s the problem, however: none of it appears to have been passed on to consumers in the form of lower prices. In reality corporate America is pocketing the money – but it is also playing with fire by inviting retaliation from President Trump.
Almost no major policy has ever been quite so chaotically implemented as the tariffs imposed by President Trump on the oddly named Liberation Day in April last year. The levies were charged, then changed, then suspended, then imposed all over again, before the Courts finally decided the White House had exceeded its authority, and the Administration instead switched to a whole new argument for taxing imports.
The result? Not only has everyone been left bewildered by the changes of policy, much of the money collected the first time around now has to be sent back to the companies that paid it. In June alone $49 billion was refunded and so far $70 billion has been sent out, with more on the way. In other words, serious money.
