U.S. may owe up to $1T in refunds if Supreme Court deems Trump's tariffs illegal

[A tower made of containers collapsed by the weight of tariff]

President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs, if deemed invalid by the U.S. Supreme Court, might trigger up to $1 trillion in refunds.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. will have to issue billions of dollars in refunds if the U.S. Supreme Court rules the Trump administration's tariffs are invalid.

“We would have to give refunds on about half of the tariffs, which would be terrible for the Treasury,” Bessent said in an interview with NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday. “If the court says so, we have to do it.”

Bessent had added that the refund could be anywhere between $750 billion and $1 trillion, CNBC reported.

Last week, Trump asked the Supreme Court to quickly accept [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4492104-trump-urges-supreme-court-to-fast-track-appeal-to-keep-his-tariffs-intact] and rule on an appeal aiming to overturn lower court rulings that deemed most of his tariffs illegal.

The request came days after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said that Trump overstepped his authority when he implemented the steep levies on virtually every country.

Filings by Trump had also added that “delaying a ruling until June 2026 could result in a scenario in which $750 billion-$1 trillion in tariffs has already been collected, and unwinding them could cause significant disruption.”

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