FedEx sues US government, seeking ‘full refund’ over Trump tariffs | Trump tariffs
FedEx filed a lawsuit against the US government on Monday, demanding refunds for tariffs imposed by Donald Trump and deemed illegal by the US Supreme Court last week.
The lawsuit represents the first attempt by a major company to repay its own shares. estimated $175 billion The tariffs increased after the Supreme Court found that Trump overstepped his authority to impose tariffs. Other companies are expected to follow.
In the case of FedEx, which named US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which collects the tariffs, as a defendant; Rodney Scott, the agency’s commissioner; and the United States. The case was filed in the US international trade court. The company did not specify an amount in its complaint but said it was seeking a “full refund” of taxes paid to the United States.
“Although the Supreme Court did not address the issue of refunds, FedEx took the necessary steps to preserve the company’s rights to seek refunds from U.S. Customs and Border Protection as an importer of record,” the company said in a written statement.
Trump made tariffs a major component of his economic policy during his second term, imposing import duties on goods from nearly every country in the world, using a new interpretation of emergency powers law as justification.
In a 6-3 decision last Friday, the court made clear that Congress has the sole authority to collect taxes under the constitution and that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) cited by the administration cannot replace that authority in peacetime.
The ruling marked the first time the high court has invalidated Trump’s policies in his second term and undermined his claims to executive authority and the arguments he relied on to reshape U.S. trade policy. However, it was unclear whether businesses would be entitled to a refund.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh addressed the issue in a dissenting opinion, claiming: “The Court today says nothing about whether the government should refund the billions of dollars it collected from importers and, if so, how it should proceed.” “Billions of dollars in refunds would have significant consequences for the US treasury,” he added.
The president quickly and harshly rebuked the high court after the ruling, claiming it would do little to slow him down. Trump said he would move forward with new global tariffs enacted under different laws. He then announced a 10% global tariff, which he increased to 15% less than 24 hours later.
“The policy hasn’t changed. The legal tools that implement it may change, but the policy hasn’t changed,” Jamieson Greer, the top US trade negotiator, said in a speech on ABC News’ This Week politics program broadcast on Sunday, arguing that it gives US businesses “a lot of advantage” in world trade.
Meanwhile, a group of Senate Democrats called for illegally collected tariffs to be refunded to small businesses and forced larger companies to pass on any amounts refunded to them to their customers.
Tariffs in 2025 $1,000 tax increase on U.S. households, according to an estimate from the Tax Foundation, a conservative nonprofit think tank.
“Historical evidence and recent research show that tariffs are taxes that raise prices and reduce the quantities of goods and services available to U.S. businesses and consumers,” the organization wrote in its analysis, “resulting in lower income, reduced employment, and lower economic output.”
Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this story
