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The Illinois-based toy company that recently triumphed in a Supreme Court case is now anticipating a refund for the tariffs it previously paid.
Learning Resources, a family-run enterprise located in the Chicago suburbs, was among the pioneers in challenging President Donald Trump’s extensive tariffs last April.
“They had no trouble taking the money, so we think they should just flip the tubes around and send it right back to us,” remarked Stephen Woldenberg, Senior Vice President at Learning Resources, during an interview with WGN, a local news outlet.
Supreme Court tariff ruling: Implications for your finances
The Supreme Court, on Friday, issued a ruling against the Trump administration, determining that the president lacked the authority to unilaterally impose extensive tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled against the Trump administration and found that the president did not have the authority to unilaterally impose broad tariffs using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
But the ruling left a crucial issue unresolved: refunds.
The government could be on the hook to refund about $175 billion, according to a Feb. 20 estimate by Penn Wharton Budget Model economists. That’s because under the court’s ruling, companies have been paying import taxes they legally didn’t owe.
In his dissent, Justice Brett Kavanaugh warned that the refund process was likely to be a “mess.” But that doesn’t mean it has to be, some argue.
“These refunds could be remarkably easy,” wrote Scott Lincicome, vice president of general economics and trade at the Cato Institute, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed Friday.
Lincicome argued that since duty payments are almost all made electronically, most of the money could be returned “at the push of a button.”
The Trump administration has repeatedly insisted it will provide refunds, though the specific process is still unclear.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Reuters in January that refunds would be a “corporate boondoggle” for companies that passed on added costs to their customers, and repayments may be spread out over weeks or even a year.
Lincicome expects an arduous process, writing, “Unless Congress mandates the easy approach, the Trump administration will probably make the refund process as burdensome as possible, requiring every importer to file mounds of paperwork, if not a lawsuit, to get its money back.”
Major companies like Costco, Toyota and Barnes & Noble have already filed lawsuits seeking refunds.
For now, Woldenberg says he’s taking the Trump administration at its word that the tariffs will be refunded: “We’ll let the lower courts decide how the tariff refund process should play out.”