Suppliers, Customers Push Importers for Slice of Tariff Refunds

As tariff refunds start reaching importers, consumers and businesses all along the supply chain are jockeying for shares.

The Trump administration earlier this month started paying back about $35 billion of the $166 billion in tariffs importers paid under an emergency powers law, after the Supreme Court declared the duties unlawful in February.

Only importers of record—the companies that handled the paperwork and tariff payments when goods crossed the border—are eligible for refunds. But in many instances, importers passed the cost of tariffs along supply chains to other companies or to consumers who bore some or all of the costs—none ...