The US government is well on its way to repaying billions of dollars that have been wrongfully collected in the form of tariffs on imported goods.
According to Reuters, the US customs authorities say that so far they have repaid $35.5 billion of the retaliatory tariffs that were introduced in April last year in connection with President Trump's so-called Liberation Day. This corresponds to more than 225 billion Danish kroner.
The tariffs were justified by Trump on the grounds that certain countries export many more goods to the US than they import, and the president wanted to do something about that. However, in February it was declared illegal by the US Supreme Court because it violates US law.
Therefore, everyone who has been charged these tariffs has been able to apply for a refund. So far, 126,237 applications for refunds have been received, and 86,874 of them have been processed.
A total of up to $166 billion in retaliatory duties have been collected, and this could end up being a large bill to pay.
Import duties have contributed to rising inflation and higher prices for American consumers, who do not directly benefit from the ongoing refunds. Only importers can get money refunded by the government.
In some places, however, a group of citizens has filed a lawsuit against the manufacturers who have passed on the bill for the illegal duties to consumers.
Donald Trump responded to the Supreme Court ruling by imposing a new 10 percent tariff on all imported goods. This was done with reference to the so-called Section 122, which gives a sitting president the ability to impose import tariffs of up to 15 percent for up to 150 days if there are problems with the balance of payments or trade deficit.
However, a commercial court has also declared that tariff invalid. The ruling has been appealed, however, and therefore this tariff is still in force for the time being.
/ritzau/
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