No. of Recommendations: 11
... must be refunded, pronto:
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a defeat for the Trump administration, a federal judge in New York ruled Wednesday that companies that paid tariffs struck down last month by Supreme Court are due refunds. Judge Richard Eaton of the U.S. Court of International Trade wrote that “all importers of record’’ were “entitled to benefit’’ from the Supreme Court ruling that struck down sweeping double-digit import taxes President Donald Trump imposed last year under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). ...Apparently, government systems are being readied:
US preparing system to process refunds on billions in illegal Trump tariffs
Brandon Lord, a top official at US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), said in a filing to the US court of international trade on Friday that the total sum held in relation to such tariffs was estimated to be “approximately $166bn”. The declaration came as government lawyers were meeting with a federal trade judge to hammer out a process for returning the money to about 330,000 importers.apnews.com - Trump tariff refundstheguardian.com - US judge lawyers trump tariffs refunds.
So, bottom line on those tariffs so far -
* much anxiety, chaos, and bad will for nothing - other than lots of prime time on TV
* revenue collected was already spent on 'worthy causes', so how will the refunds be funded
* importers now set to receive windfall profits on costs that were in fact borne by the consumer (at ca. 95%) - will there be endless squabbles (class action suits...) on who should get them in the end
* new section 122 tariffs are in effect at 10% - that has not yet caught up with the leader's overnight mind change to 15%
* there are a number of indications that the legal base for the new tariffs (acute "balance of payments problem" from the gold standard era) will not hold either
To be continued.
It must all be very good for the economy though.
