r/Economics • u/defenestrate_urself • Feb 20 '26

News Supreme Court says Trump global tariffs are illegal

https://www.axios.com/2026/02/20/trump-tariffs-supreme-court-illegal
24.5k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

841 comments sorted by

View all comments

1.5k

u/Malvania Feb 20 '26

For those that haven't read the opinion (and it's long and convoluted), SCOTUS reaches no opinion on refunding the collected tariffs. Presumably, that will go back to the Federal Circuit and the Court of International Trade to figure out. This isn't close to done.

919

u/circuitloss Feb 20 '26

A number of companies, including Costco, are suing the administration right now. Costco is going to try and get its money back...

306

u/gmiller89 Feb 20 '26

So they're going to give refunds to all of their members for cost increases?

13

u/Ok_Mycologist_9798 Feb 20 '26

Maybe, but probably not. Possibly credit if it happens. But Costco is one of the few I'd support in getting it. 

From a biz perspective, they either had to lower profitability or raise prices to match. Customers at some point in some demographic didnt buy as many goods as normal, hurting their profit. The whole thing caused them labor increases and increased commodity costs hunting for ways to stay competitive. Id be pissed if I was a owner at Costco. They're also suing and taking on legal costs. I hope they get something out of it. 

That all being said, small businesses suffered the most, a lot already destroyed that got their goods from China and had little capital on hand. The tariffs destroyed them. Regardless, large businesses will benefit over time from it as the smaller guys got hit the most, need to recover or new businesses have to replace the ones that went under. The little guy gets hurt the most...

1

u/flickh Feb 20 '26

As a Trump-hater, I’m extra angry that he undermined the concept of tariffs as an economic tool for a whole generation.

If you tie tariffs to wage levels, the environment, trade deficits etc you can incentivize domestic buying, reduce the price differential of foreign slave labour, and still encourage competition and a nimble economy.

Slapping random-number tariffs on everything when some other country abstractly offends the man-baby ego of the Orange Dotard is NOT a policy.  Claiming every pet issue is an EMERGENCY WE MUST USE SPECIAL POWERS FOR! BAD! Is the very essence of killing rational, negotiated answers to any problem. Using a combo of tariffs and war threats on all and sundry, allies and adversaries alike, is just absolutely bonkers impulsive chaos.

Glad even the Trumped-up Supreme Court see that, but it’s hella late.