Exclusive / Senate Democrats press Greer to refund consumers for tariffs - Semafor

Six Senate Democrats are urging the Trump administration to refund consumers alongside importers after the Supreme Court struck down a previous round of tariffs.

“Without such a plan, President Trump’s reckless trade policy risks becoming nothing but a multi-billion-dollar scheme to transfer wealth from consumers to giant corporations,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and five colleagues wrote in a letter, shared first with Semafor, to US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Monday night.

The private sector, which has so far gotten back about $100 billion, is trying to do some of the work itself by plowing the money into price cuts and parceling out refunds. Companies that have opted out, including Ford and Costco, are facing lawsuits.

The lawmakers ask whether officials are monitoring firms’ actions and weighing direct refunds, like tax relief. They also lay the groundwork for future Democratic oversight of current levies, by requesting more information on tariffs under Section 122 and 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 plus Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930.

In response, a USTR official told Semafor that attorneys general from blue states had asked the Supreme Court to return tariff revenue to corporations, so the Trump administration was “simply following court orders based on this outcome pushed by Democrat policymakers.”