US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer called on companies seeking refunds for the almost $170 billion in tariffs overturned by the Supreme Court to give any money they receive back to their workers.
“If I were these companies, and somehow they get this windfall, the most important thing and the smartest thing they should do is give it as bonuses to their workers,” Greer said Friday in an interview on CNBC.
“The whole reason the president imposed these tariffs was to try to reshore, to fix our massive imbalance in trade that we’ve experienced over many years because of China, Vietnam, the EU and others,” he added. “If the companies are going to get this windfall, they should pass it along to their workers as a bonus or a raise, because that’s the purpose of the program.”
It’s unclear if the federal government has the power to mandate such a move. Greer’s comments highlight what is shaping up to be a complicated fight over when and how importers that were subject to those duties may obtain refunds after the Supreme Court last month found that Trump’s global tariffs were unconstitutional.
The tariff revenue is being held by the US Treasury Department and more than 1,000 companies are already suing to recoup what they paid out.
Greer said any interest paid on potential tariff refunds would be “par for the course if that happens.”
“Anytime the government has to refund money or anything like that, there’s always some kind of interest associated,” he told CNBC.
After the Supreme Court’s decision, it fell to the lower US Court of International Trade to determine whether refunds will be available, how they will be doled out, and to whom.
In a recent court filing, a Customs and Borders Protection official said that the government is working on a system to help process the wave of refund requests and issue payments electronically, saying that the work on a web-based portal that is part of that project is 70% complete. No timetable, however, was offered for when the system would be up and running.
Judge Richard Eaton of the Court of International Trade, who ordered CBP to provide the update, said customs authorities were “making satisfactory progress” and asked for another update by March 19. He has said “every single cent” of tariffs collected under the emergency law Trump used for his global levies must be returned.
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