Topline
Major companies including Costco, Revlon and Kawasaki Motors are increasingly going to court over President Donald Trump’s sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs as the Supreme Court weighs overturning them, filing lawsuits against the Trump administration to secure refunds of their tariffs after previously staying quiet.
Costco is the latest major company to file lawsuits over Trump’s tariffs.
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Key Facts
The Supreme Court is deliberating on whether Trump’s tariffs were lawfully imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), as the president claims, or if they should be overturned.
Justices signaled they were wary of the tariffs, and if the policy gets overturned, companies that already paid tariffs could get refunds for the fees they’ve already paid.
Costco became the latest major company to file a lawsuit Friday, joining other brands like cosmetics giant Revlon, motorcycle manufacturer Kawasaki Motors, Bumble Bee Foods and EssilorLuxottica, which owns major eyewear brands like Ray-Ban.
Legal experts have told Forbes it’s unclear how a refund process would play out, but court records show more than 70 companies have already filed lawsuits seeking to kickstart the process, asking the U.S. Court of International Trade to declare the tariffs unlawful, force the federal government to refund the money they’ve paid and block the government from charging Trump’s sweeping tariffs going forward.
The lawsuits mark a new turn in the legal fight over Trump’s tariffs, as it’s previously been smaller companies filing litigation against the duties, while larger companies have shied away from openly criticizing the policy.
Other companies filing lawsuits in recent weeks include packaging company Berlin Packaging, eyewear group Innovative Eyewear, fitness gear manufacturer iFit, aluminum producer Alcoa and plumbing supplier Ferguson Enterprises, among others.
Crucial Quote
The refund lawsuits are “necessary … because even if the IEEPA duties and underlying executive orders are held unlawful by the Supreme Court, importers that have paid IEEPA duties, including Plaintiffs, are not guaranteed a refund for those unlawfully collected tariffs” without a court ruling ordering it, Costco, Revlon and other companies argued in their lawsuits. Court filings show many of the lawsuits were brought by the same law firms, so the same language has been used across a number of separate filings.