Overwhelming data, including a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, indicated that U.S. importers paid for the majority of the tariffs-up to 90%-with many passing down the increased costs to American consumers. Goldman Sachs estimated the tariffs added a 0.7% increase to inflation over 10 months, with prices to increase another 0.1% in 2026 because of levies.
This lawsuit seeks to prevent Costco, the third-largest retailer in the world, from double recovery. Costco has made no commitment to return any portion of anticipated tariff refunds to the consumers who bore those costs.
Costco is poised to be paid twice for the same unlawful tariff burden, referring to President Donald Trump's tariffs that were struck down last month by the Supreme Court and the US Court of International Trade's subsequent ruling that importers of record are due refunds.
CBP told the court that its current setup is 'not well suited to a task of this scale.' The filing points specifically to the agency's Automated Commercial Environment, or ACE, the central platform used to process trade data, importer records, and duty transactions. In Brandon Lord's declaration, CBP said using the existing workflow would require more than 4.4 million labor hours to process more than 53.2 million entries tied to IEEPA duties.
Richard Eaton, a judge of the US Court of International Trade in Manhattan, ordered the government to finalize the cost of bringing millions of shipments into the US without assessing a tariff, according to a court filing. He ordered the refunds to be made with interest. When merchandise is brought into the United States, an importer pays an estimated amount at entry which is then finalized around 314 days later, a process known as liquidation.
On Feb. 20, The Supreme Court invalidated tariffs implemented under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, worth an estimated $130 billion to $175 billion.
Back in Massachusetts, I heard from all sorts of companies, from board game makers to baby stroller manufacturers, that tariffs made it more expensive to run their businesses and raise their prices. The truth is, you paid for Trump's disastrous economic policies.
