Treasury Secretary Calls $166 Billion Tariff Refunds Corporate Bonanza

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent characterized the distribution of $166 billion in court-ordered tariff refunds as a corporate bonanza. He noted that the funds are flowing to importers of record rather than the consumers who bore the majority of the economic burden.

The refunds follow a Supreme Court of the United States ruling that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act did not authorize the president to impose the tariffs. As of July 1, United States Customs and Border Protection had accepted approximately $143.29 billion for processing. Judge Richard Eaton of the U.S. Court of International Trade observed in May that most of these processed refunds have gone to large importers.

Data from the Congressional Budget Office and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York indicate that consumers and U.S. firms bore between 90% and 95% of the original tariff costs. Despite these findings, the refunds are being issued to the entities that originally paid the tariffs to the government.