The US starts offering tariff refunds

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American businesses can now apply for tariff refunds, two months after the Supreme Court ruled most of the levies imposed by Donald Trump to be unlawful. The process will take time. More than 300,000 importers paid levies worth $166bn on roughly 53m shipments, although US Customs and Border Protection said not all transactions are eligible for refunds. The tariffs were Trump’s signature trade policy, aimed at persuading companies to relocate their manufacturing activities to the US while generating a dividend of at least $2,000 per person. Instead they translated to higher domestic prices. Some of the extra costs were shouldered by companies and part of them were passed onto consumers. The Tax Foundation, a Washington DC think tank, thinks the tariffs cost households $1,000 on average in 2025.