Trump tariff refund fight in motion as small businesses take helm

Ella LeeSun, March 1, 2026 at 11:00 AM UTC

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The fight for tariff refunds following the Supreme Court’s decision to void President Trump’s sweeping levies is underway.

A Michigan auto parts store and New York wine importer are leading the charge, and they’re moving fast.

Hundreds of small businesses and major corporations alike have rushed to court to reclaim the unlawfully collected funds, as the Trump administration awaits instruction on a roadmap for next steps.

“Our goal is simple: No unnecessary expense. No unnecessary disruption. No 900-case pileup,” Liberty Justice Center, which represents the wine importer, VOS Selections, said this week.

Here’s where things stand.

Who will lead: Wine importer or auto parts store?

VOS Selections, which imports sake and spirits, has already made moves to secure its refund with the four small businesses it sued alongside.

Victor Schwartz, VOS Selections’ founder, said hours after the Supreme Court’s decision last Friday that the ruling marked a “turning point” for thousands of small businesses nationwide.

Though his company is owed a refund in the “low six figures,” the tariffs made a major impact on his business’s cash flow — a disadvantage many small businesses likely faced, he said.

“As you could understand, cash flow is the lifeblood of a company,” said Schwartz. The Trump administration long ago guaranteed VOS Selections and the other original plaintiffs refunds if they emerged victorious.

The administration has said it won’t object to refunds for other businesses. But still, the process may be more complicated.

In an email Thursday, Liberty Justice Center urged that most businesses do not need to take immediate action now, and if litigation does become necessary, their claims will still be viable.

The nonprofit, public interest litigation firm emphasized its focus on ensuring a “uniform, court-supervised refund process” that would be applied across the board.

“We are working to prevent a scenario in which thousands of small businesses are forced to file separate lawsuits simply to recover unlawfully collected duties,” the email read.

That hasn’t stopped hundreds of businesses from filing suit, anyways.

In one major move, FedEx, the global shipping company, sued the Trump administration Tuesday for a “full refund” on the import taxes it paid since the emergency tariffs went into place. Soon after, the company vowed to give those funds back to those who initially bore the charges: Shippers and consumers.

“When that will happen and the exact process for requesting and issuing refunds will depend in part on future guidance from the government and the court,” the company said in a statement Thursday.

As companies like FedEx line up, it remains unclear whether the wine importer will continue to be the face.

A Muskegon, Mich., auto parts store has emerged as a contender to take the baton.

For months, other companies’ lawsuits were consolidated with AGS Company Automotive Solutions’ case, effectively making it the lead docket.

That is, until Dec. 23, when Mark Barnett, the chief judge of the U.S. Court of International Trade, halted new cases.

DOJ not stepping on gas

With the Supreme Court ruling now in, AGS is pushing to lift the pause.

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On Wednesday, the auto parts store asked for a hearing “as soon as practicable.” The store’s lawyers said they’d be ready to go as soon as the next day, but the court did not oblige.

AGS had told the court that “a delay in lifting the stay favors defendants and prejudices Plaintiffs further.”

Schwartz’s business, meanwhile, is back at the intermediate appeals court.

VOS Selections has urged the swift return of its “mandate,” the formal document ending the appeals process that enables the lower court to regain jurisdiction .

Though the government has 25 days to ask the Supreme Court to rehear the case, and the justices won’t issue its judgment until 32 days have passed, the businesses argue that there is “no impediment” to moving forward now. The appeals court can issue its mandate at any time, they contend.

“The mandate did not issue in the ordinary course here only because of this Court’s order staying the mandate’s issuance until the Supreme Court entered its judgment,” their lawyers wrote. “Because that has now happened, this mandate should issue forthwith.”

As the businesses step on the gas, the Justice Department is content with letting things unfold more slowly.

In an update filed Friday night, the administration called the demand for speed “ill-conceived.” If anything, the proceedings should be put on hold for 90 days so the political branches can consider the options, the government argued.

“Complexity in the future counsels appropriately careful process, not breakneck speed,” the Justice Department wrote.

Trump himself has signaled he expects the process to take some time, telling reporters after the ruling that the refund process may be tied up in the courts for years given no roadmap was laid out by the court.

On Friday, he posited that the high court should even give its decision another go, though the Supreme Court hasn’t reheard a plenary case in nearly 70 years.”Is a Rehearing or Readjudication of this case possible???” the president wrote on Truth Social.

Dems make move of their own

As the courts parse refunds, Democrats have sought to take matters into their own hands.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) wrote in a letter to Trump he shared publicly Friday that he invoiced the administration for $8.6 billion, a refund of $1,700 for every family in the state.

“The Supreme Court has ruled that this is yet one more unconstitutional act by you and your administration,” he said. “This letter and the attached invoice stand as an official notice that compensation is owed to the people of Illinois, and if you do not comply we will pursue further action.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) made similar demands, as California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) urged the president that it’s “time to pay the piper.”

In Congress, Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) introduced legislation that would require prompt, full refunds of Trump’s emergency tariffs, plus interest, rather than wait for a court to figure out a process.

Some 19 other Democrats are co-sponsoring the bill, which would force U.S. Customs and Border Protection to front the costs and pay interest on the refunded amount within 180 days of enactment.

Small businesses would be prioritized under the legislation, and CBP would be directed to report each month on the status of refunds.

“It’s Main Street and working families that paid Trump’s tariff taxes, and we must ensure they get their money back—not big corporations,” Markey said in a press release Monday.

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