The Supreme Court recently ruled that “President Trump lacked the legal authority to impose those tariffs and that his administration is to pay it all back to American importers – plus interest.” The “tariff refund portal” is now open for American importers to apply to get back the $166 billion the U.S. illegally collected from them over the past year (with interest), plus reimbursement for taxes paid on those imports. Since only parties formally designated as importers are eligible to seek a refund, consumers will get nothing.

So, the ruling suggests that the importers absorbed all the costs and didn’t pass the cost on to the consumer. We know that isn’t true for all importers. I remember purchasing items in which the price was increased due to the tariffs. So, some importers get reimbursed for the tariffs fees they paid, plus taxes as well as the price they passed onto the consumer.

It looks to me that, again, the corporate zillionaires make a sizable profit from these tariffs and the consumers, yet again, end up paying the full price. Sounds like the Trump business model!