IP Law Daily, VITAL BRIEFING—U.S. trade judge orders administration to quit collecting illegal tariffs, (Mar 6, 2026)
Organizations Mentioned:Cato Institute
Demonstrating his resistance and reluctance to facilitate the refund of improperly levied tariffs, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently said that any such refunds would constitute a form of “corporate welfare,” and certain companies had already passed along price increases to customers.
In this installment of Tariffs Insights, Thomas Thompson provides an overview of the recent U.S. Court of International Trade directive to the Trump administration which orders it to take steps to ease the repayment process for the tariffs deemed illegal by the Supreme Court’s decision in V.O.S. Selections v. Trump. Thompson also delves into how the Trump DOJ has responded to demands for tariff refunds in court, as well through the public statements by a leading administration official.
Some of the items Thompson highlights in this edition include:
A failed effort by the Department of Justice to obtain a 90-day stay in the processing of the tariff refunds implied by the Supreme Court decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Remarks from the U.S. Court of International Trade judge noting that the court will be handling what are likely to be thousands of refund claims, and that he saw no reason for the refund process to become messy given the clarity of the law in this area.
An estimate from the libertarian think tank, the Cato Institute, that the federal government’s refund delays are costing the U.S. Treasury $23 million per day in interest payment penalties in light of the approximately $175 billion the government owes in tariff repayments.
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent’s refusal to respond to a question from a Sunday news show host on whether the administration would refund the tariffs implicated by the Supreme Court’s decision, and his further assertion that returning the tariff funds would not benefit the public.
To read the article, click U.S. trade judge orders administration to quit collecting illegal tariffs.
MainStory: IndustryNewsTrends