NEW YORK, March 5 — The United States (US) administration has suffered another setback in the legal dispute over its tariffs, reported German Press Agency (dpa).
A judge at the US Court of International Trade in New York ruled yesterday that importers are entitled to refunds for tariffs they had already paid, which the US Supreme Court recently declared unlawful.
The plaintiff in the case was a company from the state of Tennessee.
Citing a 1977 emergency law, US President Donald Trump had imposed tariffs on dozens of trading partners without congressional approval since the start of his second term.
In a landmark ruling last month, the Supreme Court declared those tariffs unlawful.
The justices said the law does not allow a US president to impose tariffs independently.
However, they did not decide whether the government must reimburse importers for tariff revenues already collected.
Several companies, including US logistics giant FedEx, subsequently filed lawsuits against the government at the Court of International Trade in New York seeking refunds for tariffs already paid.
A wave of refund claims was expected immediately after the Supreme Court ruling.
According to calculations by the University of Pennsylvania, the issue could involve about US$175 billion (RM683 billion) for the US federal budget, equivalent to roughly 2.5 per cent of the budget.
