American Consumers: Show Us the Money!
In a 6-to-3 decision, American consumers and businesses have been liberated from Trump’s Liberation Day. To take you back, on April 2, 2025, Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14257, announcing the imposition of tariffs on almost every country in the world. The method that he used to calculate those tariffs was, generously stated, laughable. The authority he cited was the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
Almost immediately, the effects of this Executive Order led to a market collapse, prompting the Trump administration to suspend tariffs in some cases and reduce them in others. For the past year, Trump continued to use IEEPA to impose/threaten tariffs in some cases or to lower tariffs when he felt like it. Oftentimes, these decisions were made for no other reason than Trump felt personally disrespected by that country’s leader. For example, recently, Trump told Larry Kudlow of Fox Business regarding the Swiss Prime Minister Karin Keller-Sutter that he “didn’t really like the way she talked to us, and so instead of giving her (Switzerland) a reduction, I raised it to 39 percent.”
During this time, almost all but the most MAGA of economists have argued that tariffs are not paid by the country importing goods to the US, they are paid by the individual and businesses that consume the goods. Just last week, the New York Fed released a paper proving that over 90% of the tariffs were paid by US consumers. The administration’s reaction to this obvious observation was the suggestion that “(t)he people associated with this paper should presumably be disciplined,” Kevin Hassett, Director of the National Economic Council.
Which brings us to today. The Supreme Court did not rule on the question of refunds and instead left that question to the lower courts.
So, this is my point:
Refunds should be issued to the American people who ultimately paid the tariffs. Refunds should not be allowed to enrich importers and businesses that simply pass those costs on to consumers. Goodness knows that I don’t always agree with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, but I wholeheartedly support her statement: “The American people paid for these tariffs and the American people should get their money back.”
The Democrats should get busy guaranteeing exactly that.