The U.S. administration is continuing its erratic tariff policy, fighting the order requiring it to refund illegally collected tariffs and imposing new tariffs to replace the ones ruled illegal.
In March, the U.S. Court of Internation Trade ordered the administration to refund around $166 million collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs imposed in April of 2025 (see “Court Orders Refunds, States Sue”). The government has said it will focus first on refunding $127 billion in tariffs that were paid but not finalized at the time of the ruling, but that there were entire categories of refunds, around $40 billion worth, that it would not refund automatically but instead expected that importers would each file individual lawsuits to require repayment, according to the New York Times. In a report late last month, a customs official estimated that the government had repaid only $21 billion to importers of the $85 billion in refund requests it had processed. The judge in the case has demanded that top customs official Rodney S. Scott appear in court to explain the situation, an order the government is resisting.
Meanwhile, the administration is appealing the ruling that the 10% across-the-board tariff imposed earlier this year based on a balance-of-payments rationale was illegal; those tariffs are still being collected while the case is on appeal but are temporary by law and are set to expire in July.
Now the administration has imposed new tariffs of 10-12.5% on 59 countries and the 27-member European Union using a law that allows tariffs on countries that have not taken action to stop imports of goods made with forced labor, and is preparing additional tariffs under a manufacturing practices rationale, according to the New York Times.
The net effect of these actions is that only a fraction of illegally collected tariffs have been refunded, and obstacles are being put in place to slow or prevent repayment of some others; new tariffs that have been ruled illegal are still being collected while the case is on appeal; and a third set of tariffs has now been imposed under a third rationale, with more to follow. Companies that import games, merch, and other products manufactured abroad continue to navigate chaotic conditions that affect their pricing and profitability.
Source: ICv2
