When US President Donald Trump took office last year, he announced his plans to implement tariffs across the board in a bid to bring more manufacturing jobs back to the US. There was also an added “benefit” of sticking it to China, who many companies rely on for manufacturing and production. As a result, many companies raised prices in anticipation of these tariffs. But now, Amazon is facing a class action lawsuit over unrefunded tariffs.
Amazon faces class action lawsuit over tariffs
According to the class action lawsuit, Amazon is being accused of not refunding the costs associated with the tariffs.
For those unfamiliar, the US Supreme Court ruled in February that Trump had overstepped his authority. Trump had previously used the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to enact his tariffs. However, the Supreme Court ruled that he had overstepped. Ultimately, this made his tariffs technically “illegal.”
As a result, many companies have started the process of seeking billions of dollars in refunds from the US government. Amazon, on the other hand, has not. You see, consumers aren’t able to request refunds directly from the US government. This means that it’s up to the seller/business to request the refund, which will then be given back to customers.
But Amazon has not made any move to do so. The lawsuit claims that this isn’t because Amazon can’t, but rather because it doesn’t want to. It accuses the company of trying to “curry favor with Trump” by allowing the government to keep the funds. “The problem is that the funds Amazon is using to stay in the President’s good graces do not belong to Amazon. These funds were wrongfully taken from consumers to cover IEEPA Tariffs that have since been invalidated.”
It seems Amazon isn’t alone in this either. According to several earlier cases, consumers have also accused companies such as Nike, Costco, and FedEx, of not passing on tariff refunds to customers.
The effect of Trump’s tariffs
When Trump initially announced his plans for tariffs, it caused quite a lot of commotion. This is When Trump initially announced his plans for tariffs, it caused quite a lot of commotion. This is because, depending on the country, the tariffs varied. China was taxed the highest, which caused a lot of concern, as the majority of our gadgets are made in the country. This meant that things we buy, like our phones, tablets, and computers, could see a price hike.
Apple CEO Tim Cook had previously said that these tariffs would have cost the company $1.1 billion. It also prompted companies such as Samsung and TSMC to start scaling up in the US with multibillion-dollar investments. Of course, all of this appears to have been for nought, especially since the Supreme Court has deemed it illegal.
Amazon has yet to respond or comment on the class action lawsuit.
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