The US government has issued $81bn in refunds for tariff payments since the start of the current fiscal year, after the Supreme Court ruled that parts of Donald Trump’s tariff programme were unlawful, according to budget figures released on Monday.

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Tariffs are taxes applied to imported goods. The refunds relate to duties collected under new measures ordered by Trump after he returned to the White House last year.

In February, the Supreme Court blocked a significant portion of the additional tariffs, requiring the government to return money to companies that had already paid the challenged charges.

Refunds rise sharply after Supreme Court decision

Budget data show that the United States paid out $81bn in tariff refunds in the fiscal year that began in October 2025. That compares with $5bn refunded during the same period a year earlier.

A senior Treasury Department official told reporters that the year-on-year jump was “almost entirely” linked to the Supreme Court decision. The official said most refunds were made in May and June.

The court ruling effectively halted the continuation of the blocked tariff measures and opened the way for refund claims tied to duties collected under the unlawful orders.

Trump’s tariff plan and its budget impact

Trump has described tariffs as a broad tool to reshape the US economy. He has argued they would support domestic manufacturing, improve trade outcomes and help reduce federal budget deficits.

After the introduction of tariff income, the deficit had narrowed slightly last year. However, the government’s finances have since worsened, with new budget figures showing renewed growth in the deficit during the current fiscal year.

The deficit reached $1.367tn in the first nine months of the fiscal year, an increase of 2% compared with the same period previously.

Higher costs: debt interest and military spending

Alongside the deficit figure, the budget release also highlighted rising spending elsewhere. The US government spent more than $1tn on interest payments on its debt during the same nine-month period, up 14%.

Military spending also increased, rising 5% during the period covered by the figures. The budget documents attributed that rise to the ongoing war in the Middle East.

Next tariff steps due to expire on 24 July

Trump’s current tariff policy includes a temporary 10% global duty. That measure is scheduled to expire on 24 July.

The White House is preparing new tariffs to replace or extend the outgoing one, according to the budget materials cited Monday. The administration said it is acting in response to what it describes as lax enforcement of anti-forced labour laws and excess industrial capacity in other countries.

The refunds underscore how court rulings can quickly change the financial picture for tariff policies. While tariff revenue had previously helped support the government’s deficit position, the repayments required after the Supreme Court decision have driven a major rise in outflows during the current fiscal year.

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14 July 2026

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So all those foreign countries who paid tariffs (according to Trump) will get their money back? 🤣

Candide, countries other than America did not pay; Americans paid.

5 hours ago, NewGuy said:

Candide, countries other than America did not pay; Americans paid.

I know. I was being sarcastic! Hence the 😃!

Edited July 14Jul 14 by candide

In February, the Supreme Court blocked a significant portion of the additional tariffs, requiring the government to return money to companies that had already paid the challenged charges.

So will those companies that passed on the tariff fees to their customers now pass on the refund? Hmm?

20 hours ago, candide said:

So all those foreign countries who paid tariffs (according to Trump) will get their money back? 🤣

The end consumer pays the Tariff not the exporter. The refunds will most likely go to the retailer! It’s a tax on the consumer.

The entire trade war that Trump started based on his near complete lack of understanding of how globalization works and the inherent ecosystems within it was a total failure from the very beginning.

Just one example of how he has begun isolating America from the rest of the world. The result is the exact opposite of what the goon promised.

What Washington doesn't understand is that it is not about who screams the loudest, it's about who the world can't function without. Canada has built themselves into the one country American can't cut out regardless of how reckless Trump behaves. They have total infrastructure integration, your iPhone uses Canadian hydroelectric power, your home is built with superior Canadian lumber, your car runs on Canadian oil, you can't replace all of that overnight.

 

In February a lumber mill in Illinois closed. Because Canadian lumber suddenly became too expensive, after Trump's tariff terrors. This wasn't a failing mill, this was a mill that had been running for 60 years, employing 300 families. It didn't die from Canadian competition, Trump killed it. It died from bad American policy.

 

There is no surge capacity to replace Canadian imports, even analysts on Fox Business admitted it could take a decade to rebuild domestic production. And even if rebuilt, will it be competitive? So instead of protecting American jobs, tariffs will do the opposite, they will make lumber unaffordable in the middle of a housing crisis, and while America is having a political meltdown, Canada was having a strategy meeting. Trump expected the usual script, retaliation, angry press conferences, maybe a new round of tariffs. Instead Canada did something no one saw coming, no shouting, no threats, no photo ops with fingerpointing, politicians stepped up to a podium and announced a 1 billion dollar support program for Canadian lumber companies. Every company taking the money had to commit to Canada's new 25 billion dollar domestic housing program, in other words America just gave us our own lumber back and we're going to use it to fuel a big housing bill. Thanks for the favor Trump!

 

Because of silly political grand standing a kitchen renovation that cost $30,000 a year ago, now costs $40,000. Not because there wasn't enough wood or steel but because of political theater in Washington. Multiply that by millions throughout America. Trump promised to fix the housing crisis, but instead he's destroying it. And he is contributing to massive inflation in the process, do not believe the government numbers they are entirely fake. I just returned from a few months in America and I can tell you that inflation is raging out of control right now as we speak.

 

If Canada, America's closest ally with the longest undefended border could openly defy US pressure, then the question becames avoidable for the rest of the world. What's stopping us from doing the same? Maybe we don't need American approval, China took notice, the EU took notice, so did Mexico. Many other countries did too. 

 

Trump is too dim to understand that Canada has infrastructure indispensability, you can't sanction a country when you run on their oil, you can't bully a partner when you run in their electricity. Canada won't beat America by force, they'll beat America with integration. America's grid was built using cheap Canadian electricity and America just proved it's willing to hurt its own people to make a political point.

 

American can no longer be counted upon for reliability and that's not a trade war, that is a trade crisis. America has a superpower credibility crisis. There's a moment during every empire is history when the mirror doesn't recognize the face staring back. August 1st was America's mirror moment, Trump thought he was teaching a lesson, instead Canada gave America a master class in independence.

 

The US is now the laughing stock of the world. Any credibility, integrity, trustworthiness, and trade that the world used to rely on, has disappeared. When the real numbers of the economy come out in the next 2 to 3 years, it will show them to be a Third World country run by unqualified power-hungry buffoons.

2 hours ago, Brettoj said:

The end consumer pays the Tariff not the exporter. The refunds will most likely go to the retailer! It’s a tax on the consumer.

It is the American IMPORTER who pays the tariff. Whether the importer in turn passes the refund to its end consumers such as wholesalers, retailers and public consumers will be decided by the owners/stock holders in the importer enterprise. Shareholders might decide to dividend the refund to themselves.

The small (ie., single owner, Mom&Pop stores) business owner(s) may pass refund to its consumers that are typically few in number, repeat customers who can be easily identified and to customers who have "membership" in the business, ie., CostCo.

The refund might not be 100% as the owner may have incurred unrecoverable costs related to tariff payout to Treasury and/or to identification of public consumers.

12 hours ago, candide said:

I know. I was being sarcastic! Hence the 😃!

2 hours ago, Brettoj said:

The end consumer pays the Tariff not the exporter. The refunds will most likely go to the retailer! It’s a tax on the consumer.

Already replied two posts before.

On 7/14/2026 at 12:33 PM, webfact said:

While tariff revenue had previously helped support the government’s deficit position, the repayments required after the Supreme Court decision have driven a major rise in outflows during the current fiscal year.

Well, what goes around comes around Donny. He must have been apoplectic when SCOTUS ruled against his prized tariffs.

Has Trump pulled the US out of the WTO yet? Does the US even go to its meetings or participate in its reports/data?

The refunds blowed a big hole in June federal budget by $120 billion. Will need more borrowing and will see the national debt ballooned. Already crossing $39 trillion in just a short 11/2 years from $34.48 trillion at the end of Biden's term. The national debt now is now 105% of the total US economy and a ticking time bomb. Still Trump is spending like a drunken sailor. He and his billionaire friends are sitting comfortably while the country suffer.

One defeat after another for America's number one failure. The downfall is just starting. Wait until the midterms. Suicide? Resignation? Goodbye Don. You won't be missed.

Writer E. Jean Carroll has received some $5.625 million in her sexual abuse and defamation case against President Trump — a payment that was delayed for years as Trump filed appeals in the civil case.

A federal jury in Manhattan awarded Carroll $5 million in damages in 2023, after finding Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll and defaming her. The final payment includes three years' worth of interest.

"Three years ago, a unanimous nine-person jury found President Trump liable for sexually assaulting and defaming E. Jean Carroll," Carroll's attorney Roberta Kaplan said in a statement to NPR. "Today, we are pleased to report that she has received the damages payment the jury awarded her as a result of that verdict."

https://www.npr.org/2026/07/14/nx-s1-5893598/e-jean-carroll-trump-sexual-abuse-defamation