Since the beginning of 2025, the Trump administration has collected $166 billion in customs duties that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled invalid. This represents the largest illegal government levy in the country’s history.
Many companies are now facing uncertainty about whether—and, if so, when—these illegal levies will be refunded. However, the administration and its federal agencies are reportedly not particularly eager to return the money, and if a refund program is launched, it is expected to be complicated and take a long time, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Approximately 3,000 companies have sued the U.S. government in The United States Court of International Trade, including Nintendo, Pandora Jewelry, Hasbro, Skechers, and Nissan. But many companies are much smaller and need the money quickly to avoid financial problems.
Early in his second term, Donald Trump imposed a series of high tariffs that affected nearly all imported goods. From January to April of last year, the average effective U.S. tariff rate rose from 2.5 percent to approximately 27 percent, the highest level in over a century. Following negotiations and legal challenges, the total average tariff rate settled at 13.7 percent in February of this year. The goods most affected by the tariffs are metals, electrical equipment, vehicles, and computers.
