Warren presses U.S. companies to share tariff refunds with customers

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is pressing companies entitled to refunds for illegal U.S. tariffs to return the money they are recouping directly to consumers.

Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, on Friday sent letters to Apple, Amazon, Energizer, Motorola, Nike, Target and Walmart seeking information about the size of the refunds they are receiving for import duties the companies paid under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). In February, the Supreme Court ruled the tariffs were invalid because President Trump lacked the authority to impose them.

Warren also urged the companies to pass the refunds to consumers, saying in the letter that customers "paid higher prices for your products while the tariffs were in place."

The U.S. government has refunded more than $100 billion in IEEPA tariffs to businesses, or about 60% of what it owes importers, according to a court filing this week. Yet many consumers, who footed some of the bill for those import duties in the form of higher prices, aren't seeing similar relief, according to Warren.

"Importers pushed the costs of tariffs onto American consumers and small businesses — with estimates showing that American families will have ended up paying 95% of the tariffs," she wrote, citing data from the Congressional Budget Office.

"But American families have no recourse for the increased prices they paid," she added.

Warren is asking the companies to disclose how much they have paid in unconstitutional IEEPA tariffs, the amounts of any refunds they have received or expect to receive, and how they plan to spend the money.

Thousands of companies, from giant retailers to small businesses, are collecting IEEPA tariff refunds. Amazon, for example, said it has received $600 million in refunds for the levies.

Apple received a $2.2 billion tariff refund, according to its third-quarter earnings report, Warren said, noting that the company raised prices on its iPhone and MacBook products this year.

"You have received an astronomical cash infusion in the form of a tariff refund, and Apple customers who paid increased prices for your products, ostensibly due to tariffs, deserve to know how that money will be spent," Warren said in her letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Nick Baker, a trade compliance expert and co-lead of trade and customs at risk advisory firm Kroll, said that IEEPA refunds go only to the importer that paid them, leaving consumers with little recourse.

"So if and when there is a refund, it might not get to the person who paid it," he said. "Which is the gripe of a lot of consumers. They have