The Amazon logo is displayed on a wooden podium with a city skyline in the background. Photo: Spencer Pauley / The Center Square
(The Center Square) – U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is urging seven major companies to pass tariff refunds on to consumers, months after the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Consumers have no way to claim that money. By law, the refunds go only to the importers that paid the duties, not the shoppers who absorbed the cost through higher prices.
In letters to Target, Apple, Amazon, Nike, Motorola Solutions, Walmart and Energizer, Warren pressed each company to pass along the tariff refunds they’ve received or expect from the federal government, and to detail how much they raised prices during the tariffs.
Warren’s letters cite reported or expected refunds of up to $10.2 billion for Walmart, $2.2 billion each for Apple and Target, $600 million for Amazon and about $50 million for Energizer. She also wrote to Nike and Motorola Solutions.
Few have committed to passing refunds on to consumers. Amazon’s chief financial officer said it would issue direct refunds only in a “limited set of circumstances” where it can trace tariff costs to specific customers, while Walmart’s finance chief said any refund would go to earnings.
None of the seven companies responded to requests for comment.
“American consumers – who are paying almost the full cost of these tariffs – have received nothing,” Warren wrote.
She cited a congressional estimate that consumers absorbed about 95% of the tariffs’ cost.
A February report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that U.S. firms and consumers “bear the bulk of the economic burden” of the tariffs.
The refunds stem from tariffs the Supreme Court struck down Feb. 20 in Learning Resources v. Trump, ruling the president exceeded his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
The administration has since imposed new tariffs under a different law, Section 301 of the Trade Act. Small businesses and states have challenged the Section 301 tariffs in the U.S. Court of International Trade.
Warren asked the companies to respond by Aug. 21, including how much each paid in tariffs, how much it has received in refunds, and whether any of it will reach the customers who paid more.
