Costco has joined an expanding coalition of retail companies taking the Trump administration to court over its tariff policies.
The warehouse chain is suing to solidify eligibility for tariff refunds should the Supreme Court invalidate President Donald Trump’s global “reciprocal” duties.
Filed on Thursday in the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT), the complaint arose from widespread concerns about whether businesses would be guaranteed repayments on the tariffs they’ve already paid should the high court find that the president overstepped his authority in implementing them.
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After prevailing in a CIT this spring and in a Washington, D.C. federal circuit appeals court in August, small business and state petitioners saw their case appealed to the Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments for and against the tariffs in early November.
The administration’s sweeping tariff policy faced pointed questioning from the nine justices, including those in the conservative majority, who expressed doubts as to whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) implies presidential authority to impose tariffs to combat an unusual or extraordinary threat to national security. The justices also questioned whether the executive branch should have the authority to levy duties, as taxes and tariffs fall historically under the authority of Congress.
Lawyers for Costco wrote that their separate suit was 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.”
According to the filing, the import entries for which Costco has already paid tariffs will become liquidated as early as Dec. 15, which the lawyers asserted could jeopardize refunds from Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Costco is now seeking to stop impending liquidations to ensure that its potential refunds are not put at risk. Costco’s counsel wrote that CBP already denied a request to extend liquidation for entries subject to IEEPA tariffs. As a result, the warehouse club retailer said it intends to file a motion for a preliminary injunction.
Costco is now seeking a declaration from the CIT that the IEEPA tariffs are illegal and an injunction preventing the defendants (the federal government) from imposing more duties through the executive orders being challenged. It’s also seeking a full refund of all IEEPA tariffs it has already paid and those it continues to pay as the Supreme Court case plays out.
White House spokesman Kush Desai responded to the company’s filing, writing, “The economic consequences of the failure to uphold President Trump’s lawful tariffs are enormous and this suit highlights that fact. The White House looks forward to the Supreme Court’s speedy and proper resolution of this matter.”
As discourse surrounding the Supreme Court decision has grown louder, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has cautioned that the negative fiscal impacts caused by tariff repayments could be severe, calling such a scenario “terrible for the Treasury.”
In recent weeks (likely in a bid to drum up public support for the increasingly unpopular trade policy), Trump has floated the idea of creating a dividend check scheme paid for with tariff revenue. Americans could receive $2,000 checks from the federal government comprised of IEEPA duty revenue, he said last month.
However, details about such a plan remain scant, and economists largely acknowledge that the 2025 tariff revenue would be inadequate to guarantee such blanket rebates to American consumers.
