If you’ve used FedEx to import products directly from outside the US, you might be in for a refund, following the Supreme Court ruling last month that the Trump administration’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariffs were unlawful.
According to a recent statement by the delivery giant, it intends to issue refunds to “shippers and consumers who originally bore those charges,” when FedEx itself receives the refunds. It’s still unclear if and when FedEx users could actually see these refunds hit their accounts. A FedEx spokesperson said: “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 Supreme Court, as AP News notes, did not provide a plan of action in terms of how businesses impacted by the tariffs could get their money back. Many justices, such as Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who argued against categorising the tariffs as unlawful, said the process of processing the refunds could be “a mess.”
Though the exact figures are hard to estimate, if the proceeds of the tariffs are to be returned to small businesses, it could cost tens of billions of dollars to process and administer. Data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from mid-December 2025, analyzed by the Cato Institute, showed that IEEPA duty collections reached $133.5 billion.
Though news of potential FedEx refunds may be welcome news for small business owners across the US, it’s only set to impact people importing goods directly, rather than run-of-the-mill consumers, such as gamers who have been hit by PS5 and Xbox price increases, which have been blamed on tariffs.
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Though FedEx is the first major firm to have announced plans to pass tariff refunds onto consumers, numerous household-name companies, including Dyson, Brooks Brothers, and units of cosmetic giant L’Oreal SA have filed lawsuits to get back what they are owed on refunds.
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