American businesses have begun receiving federal refunds for tariffs the Supreme Court struck down earlier this year, with the government reporting $35.5 billion in approved payments already flowing to importers, including interest, according to CBS News.
On April 20, the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries portal went live, opening a path for the more than 330,000 importers who paid duties under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to recoup a share of the roughly $166 billion collected. The court ruled in February that President Donald Trump lacked legal authority to impose the levies, according to CBS News.
By early this week, government figures showed approval of close to 87,000 claims tied to more than 15 million individual duty payments, according to CBS News. Customs officials told ABC News that roughly one in seven claims has been turned away, most often because of filing errors or the inclusion of shipments that do not qualify.
Several major corporations have disclosed specific refund expectations. At GM, the anticipated $500 million windfall prompted an upward revision to the company's full-year earnings forecast, while Ford $F, expecting $1.3 billion in reimbursements, bumped its annual guidance by $500 million, according to CBS News. Stellantis $STLA recognized a one-time accounting gain of approximately $465 million in anticipation of future reimbursements, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Tim Cook publicly acknowledged that Apple $AAPL is moving through the official refund process and committed to directing whatever payments the company receives toward domestic innovation and manufacturing, according to the Los Angeles Times. Home Depot $HD's finance chief Richard McPhail confirmed that initial payments had arrived, and Walmart $WMT disclosed it was filing for reimbursement on merchandise valued at under half a percentage point of its yearly domestic sales.
Consumers should not expect direct payments. Research from the New York Federal Reserve estimated that U.S. businesses and consumers absorbed approximately 90% of the tariff burden, yet the government's reimbursement mechanism channels payments exclusively back to the importers who filed them, according to ABC News. In a note to clients, Bank of America $BAC's Stephen Juneau suggested the refunds would probably exert mild downward pressure on prices, explaining that businesses tend to ease off future price hikes rather than cut checks to shoppers, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Companies pursuing refunds face competing pressures. Consumer litigation targeting Nike $NKE, Lululemon $LULU, and Amazon $AMZN has sought to claw back a portion of the refunds on behalf of shoppers who faced elevated prices, while the president has framed companies pursuing reimbursements as acting against the national interest, according to the Los Angeles Times.