No. of Recommendations: 12
It is simply $130 billion going from the government's pockets back into the pockets of the businesses who paid the tariffs.
...
Except the pockets they came out from originally were those of consumers, through tariffs being passed on through price increases. Likely, businesses are going to make rather nice windfall profits while the US consumer / taxpayer has already paid / will pay once more.
More specifically, refunds (if any are made) would go to the "importers of record", as they are the proximal entities who paid them: the ones with the receipts. Unlike most countries, in the US the importer of record can be a non-US entity. For approximately 20% of the duties deemed unlawful, the importer of record was a Chinese company.
I gather that the administration is attempting to simply stonewall all requests for refunds, but if/when the courts order them paid, that's going to make a truly memorable headline.
Jim
