105

In what is to be the biggest repayment programme in history, companies can apply online for money they were charged under the so-called "Liberation Day" tariffs - plus interest - to be returned.

The US Court of International Trade in March ordered customs officials to refund the more than $160bn (£121bn) the government had collected, putting roughly 330,000 importers in a position to potentially win back some money.

But some individual consumers, who were hit by the tariffs indirectly through higher prices, are not expected to be compensated.

top 9 comments
sorted by: hot top new old
[-] reallykindasorta@slrpnk.net 33 points 3 weeks ago

Which means we get to pay for it twice, Xcellent™

[-] ape_arms@lemmy.world 20 points 3 weeks ago

Smells a lot like the COVID relief shit. If you know someone, or have an inside track on the process, you get tariff relief. Pure corruption.

[-] Bluegrass_Addict@lemmy.ca 19 points 3 weeks ago

just go take shit that you want. liberate these stores and companies from their garbage.

[-] altphoto@lemmy.today 19 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Its yet another mechanism to squeeze from us, then give that to large companies owned by rich assholes.

They never figure out a way to not take our money or to take it from big companies and give it to us. And money doesn't come out of the ground. Its our labor! They are stealing our work hours.

[-] Quexotic@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 weeks ago

They're stealing our lives.

[-] voxthefox@lemmy.blahaj.zone 17 points 3 weeks ago

Working as expected.

[-] aramis87@fedia.io 16 points 3 weeks ago

Interesting thing is that when the tariffs were installed and businesses sued for collection to be deferred until after their legality was determined, the government argued that it would be difficult for them to recover monies not paid and trivial for them to automatically issue refunds since they'd have all the data in their systems.

So the tariffs were ruled illegal, and the government immediately pivoted to, "Well, actually, it's going to be really hard for us to process the data and figure out how much we owe to whom, can't we just keep it?" When told No, they then said, "Well, we're not going to figure it out, you have to do it!"

So now all the businesses who got impacted have to go through all their records and figure out which good la were subjected to which tariffs (since not all the tariffs were ruled illegal), how much they paid in tariffs, then submit their data with all the backup documentation for government approval.

The government is tearing the entire thing kind of like manufacturers who offer a rebate: they make it clunky and inefficient and loaded with caveats and terms, and they know they'll be able to keep a bunch of money because some people won't bother, or won't have the papers, or will be too busy and miss a deadline, etc.

But anyway, I thought it was cute how they immediately pivoted from "it'll be trivial for us to refund" to "ackshually, this is really hard, you do it!"

[-] Herbie@lemmy.world 16 points 3 weeks ago

Oh boy, this means prices will go down again! Oh wait no.. companies are greedy and the current prices are the new norm.

[-] U7826391786239@piefed.zip 12 points 3 weeks ago

when has the peasant class ever benefited

this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2026
105 points (99.1% liked)

Politics

1188 readers
177 users here now

For civil discussion of US politics. Be excellent to each other.

Rule 1-3, 6 & 7 No longer applicable

Rule 4: Keep it civil. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a jerk. It’s not acceptable to say another user is a jerk. Cussing is fine.

Rule 5: Be excellent to each other. Posts or comments that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, ableist, will be removed.

The Epstein Files: Trump, Trafficking, and the Unraveling Cover-Up

Info Video about techniques used in cults (and politics)

Bookmark Vault of Trump's First Term

USAfacts.org

The Alt-Right Playbook

Media owners, CEOs and/or board members

Video: Macklemore's new song critical of Trump and Musk is facing heavy censorship across major platforms.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS