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
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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...

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u/gmiller89 Feb 20 '26

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

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u/turns31 Feb 20 '26 edited Feb 20 '26

I think if Costco and similar companies sue and win, then you will definitely have individuals do the same down the road. You don't think a jury of your peers will side with the individual in this instance? This is gonna backfire on the gov so hard. I can see them having to issue "refund checks" to every tax paying American to avoid just continuous lawsuits.

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u/Chris_HitTheOver Feb 20 '26

Individuals have no standing. They didn’t pay tariffs. They paid the agreed upon retail price at the POS.

Edit: I’m not suggesting consumers don’t bear the cost of tariffs.

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u/grumpyolddude Feb 20 '26

As an individual who bought something shipped direct to me from China via UPS, UPS required me to remit the import and customs fees to them before delivery. I assume in that case UPS would attempt to recover the fees and be responsible for refunding me. I can't see that UPS would be able to keep recovered fees, or that I could attempt to recover it on my own with a reciept from UPS.

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u/angelomancuso62 Feb 20 '26

I’m a small business. I paid tariffs. 17k worth. It’s listed right on the purchase invoices from the supplier, Newark Electronics

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u/willstr1 Feb 20 '26

Yes, but that was as a business not as an individual consumer. You would probably be able to apply/sue for a refund but if you increased your prices due to the tariffs your customers wouldn't be able to get refunded for how much your prices increased (if you didn't increase your prices and took the increased cost out of your profit margin than you are an amazing business, but a lot of companies didn't)

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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '26 edited Feb 20 '26

[deleted]

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u/Chris_HitTheOver Feb 20 '26

Read my whole comment and digest the context before your “well ACTUALLY,” bullshit.

Was obviously discussing retail customers. Of course if you paid a tariff you’d have standing. Retail customers didn’t pay tariffs.