Costco has preemptively sued the U.S. government to ensure it receives a full refund of the tariff duties it has already paid, if the Supreme Court ends up upholding the decision of two lower courts in finding President Trump’s tariffs illegal. Costco also asked to block impending payments, set to come due as early as Dec. 15, 2025, until the Supreme Court has ruled on the legality of the tariffs.
Costco’s lawsuit was filed Friday in the U.S Court of International Trade (CIT), which also was the first court to find that the tariffs were illegally imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The case is now being decided by the Supreme Court after an appeals court upheld the CIT’s ruling. The Supreme Court heard the case earlier this month, although no word yet on when a ruling will be handed down.
Other companies that have also already sued for tariff refunds include EssilorLuxottica, Revlon and Kawasaki Motors.
Costco justified the filing of its lawsuit prior to a ruling from the Supreme Court, saying in its filing that “even if the IEEPA duties and underlying executive orders are held unlawful by the Supreme Court, importers that have paid IEEPA duties are not guaranteed a refund for those unlawfully collected tariffs in the absence of their own judgment and judicial relief.”
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Trump has used the potential of refunds to try to sway the court’s decision, warning before the Nov. 5 hearing that the Treasury Department could be forced to refund between $750 billion and $1 trillion in already collected tariffs if the Court waits too long to issue a decision.
