Costco Wholesale Corp. is suing the Trump administration in an attempt to secure refunds if the Supreme Court invalidates President Trump’s use of a 1977 law to impose unilateral levies on dozens of trading partners.
The membership-based warehouse club, in a complaint filed with the U.S. Court of International Trade, said it needs to secure potential relief before a Dec. 15 deadline. Tariff payments will be “liquidated” at that point, meaning Costco might not have a right to seek redress after that date.
Other companies successfully sued over Mr. Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs ranging from 10% to 50% on different countries.
But the Supreme Court will have the final say in the coming months on whether the White House usurped congressional powers.
Costco wants to be ready.
Its lawsuit is necessary “because even if the IEEPA duties and underlying executive orders are held unlawful by the Supreme Court, importers that have paid IEEPA duties, including plaintiff, are not guaranteed a refund for those unlawfully collected tariffs in the absence of their own judgment and judicial relief,” the complaint says.
Costco is seeking an injunction against further tariffs under IEEPA and a full refund of tariffs it paid under the suit.
The complaint does not specify how much Costco has paid, to date, in tariffs under IEEPA.
The Treasury has collected tens of billions of dollars from importers, and the administration has estimated it would have to refund $750 billion to $1 trillion if an adverse ruling does not arrive until June.
Tariffs, or duties on foreign goods brought to U.S. markets, are a central plank of Mr. Trump’s second-term agenda. The president says tariffs are a great way to raise revenue, gain leverage over other countries and spur manufacturing in the U.S.
Foreign countries such as Japan and South Korea have committed to billion-dollar investments in U.S. factories in an attempt to lower their tariff rates.
Yet some U.S. companies say the tariffs pose a massive burden. They must pay the duty to customs when they bring in foreign goods. In those cases, they must eat those costs or pass them along to consumers in the form of higher prices.
Costco, a chain that promotes big bargains, said in its complaint that it is the importer of record for many foreign goods and pays the costs to U.S. customs.
Blue states and small businesses sued Mr. Trump over his use of IEEPA earlier in the year and won cases in the trade court and an appellate court.
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case on Nov. 5. Key justices seemed skeptical of the administration’s position, saying the Constitution tasks Congress with raising revenue.
The administration argued the president was attempting to regulate foreign trade and any revenue was incidental to that aim.
