Judge rules that companies are entitled to refunds for tariffs

In a defeat for the Trump administration, a federal judge in New York ruled last week that companies that paid tariffs struck down last month by the Supreme Court are due refunds.

- BY PAUL WISEMAN AND MAE ANDERSON

Judge Richard Eaton of the U.S. Court of International Trade wrote that "all importers of record" were "entitled to benefit" from the Supreme Court ruling that struck down sweeping double-digit import taxes President Trump imposed last year under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA.

The Supreme Court found those tariffs to be unconstitutional under the emergency powers law, including the sweeping "reciprocal" tariffs he levied on nearly every country. The majority ruled that the president could not unilaterally set tariffs because taxation power belongs to Congress.