How Betting on Tariff Refunds Became a Hot New Trade: QuickTake

Are the bulk of President Donald Trump’s tariffs unlawful? That question, now before the US Supreme Court, has spawned a hot new trade on Wall Street. Financial firms are buying the rights to refunds on tariffs paid by US importers on the expectation that the court will strike down the levies and set the stage for companies to be reimbursed.

US companies have paid more than $100 billion in import taxes since Trump set his tariff policy in motion earlier this year. But courts have been skeptical that the president has the authority to impose his sweeping ...