If it seems like everything is expensive these days, it might not be just because of inflation.
When tariffs were raised, those costs were either passed onto consumers or companies.
And now that some of the tariffs from the past year have been deemed unconstituitional, companies want their money back.
Except, allegedly, Amazon.
Tariff lawsuits abound
President Donald Trump declared several rounds of emergency tariffs when he came into office as a way to put pressure on foreign countries to make trade deals.
Many of the president’s sweeping emergency tariffs were declared unlawful by the Supreme Court in March, the AP reported. The court ruled that the Constitution states that taxation belongs to Congress, not the President’s office.
“The Framers did not vest any part of the taxing power in the Executive Branch,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote.
Thousands of companies sued the U.S. government for its sweeping tariffs after the ruling, as many were left to collect tariffs.
U.S. government faces tariff woes
- According to the Financial Times, over 900 legal challenges were filed after the Supreme Court ruling against tariffs.
- FedEx has sued the Trump administration for a full refund of the tariffs the company had to pay, ABC7 reported.
- Meanwhile, Sony is being sued by two gamers who claim the company received a significant amount of money due to the tariffs, Wnhub reported.
- States and small businesses have also joined to challenge the 10% tax that Trump rolled out after the Supreme Court ruling, The New York Times reported.
While many of the lawsuits have so far involved businesses, consumers are also starting to seek recuperation from the money collected on overseas packages.
Amazon faces a tariff lawsuit of its own
Amazon is one of the first retail companies to face a class action lawsuit over its collection of tariffs.
A class action lawsuit filed in Seattle on May 5 claims Amazon has made hundreds of millions of dollars that should be returned to customers.
The lawsuit filed by law firm Hagens Berman alleges that Amazon raised prices on imported goods and, since the Supreme Court ruling, can recover those costs but has refused to do so.
“Not because [Amazon] lacks a legal basis to do so, but because it seeks to curry favor with Trump by allowing the federal government to retain the funds,” the court document says.
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This decision by Amazon is at the expense of consumers, the lawsuit contends.
“The problem is that the funds Amazon is using to stay in the President’s good graces do not belong to Amazon,” the lawsuit states. “These funds were wrongfully taken from consumers to cover IEEPA Tariffs that have since been invalidated.”
Similar lawsuits have also been filed against companies like Nike and Costco. Those lawsuits contend that companies have not passed on tariff refunds to customers, Fox Business reported.
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