Wholesale powerhouse Costco is suing the Trump administration to get a “full refund” of various tariffs.
Videos by Suggest
According to NBC News, Costco is asking the Court of International Trade to find that all tariffs collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) are “unlawful.”
Through the filing, which was done on Friday, the wholesale company is seeking a “full refund” of all duties under the act paid as a result of President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs.
“Because IEEPA does not clearly authorize the President to set tariffs … the Challenged Tariff Orders cannot stand,” the filing reads. “And the defendants are not authorized to implement and collect them.”
Along with the lawsuit, the U.S. Supreme Court is currently reviewing the legality of the Trump administration’s tariffs. Trump is notably the first president to use the IEEPA law to impose import duties. Lower courts have previously ruled against the Trump administration’s use of the act. However, the courts kept the tariffs in place as the case remains ongoing.
Although the lawsuit does not reveal how much the duties have impacted Costco, it was reported that importers have been paid nearly $90 billion under the IEEPA. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection collected the data in late September.
Costco’s CFO Previously Revealed that a Third of the Company’s sales in the U.S. Are Imported Products
Earlier this year, Costco Chief Financial Officer Gary Millerchip confirmed in an earnings phone call that about a third of the company’s sales in the U.S. are on imported products.
Millerchip further noted that items imported from China accounted for approximately 8% of total U.S. sales.
He then noted that while Costco was seeing a direct impact from tariffs on Central and South America’s fresh food imports.
However, the company decided not to increase prices because the fresh foods are “key stable items” for its customers.
Millerchip warned about tariff price hikes in late 2024 after Trump won the 2024 presidential election.
“When it rains, it rains on everybody,” he stated. Of course, tariffs raise costs. That’s not something that we see as a positive in general.”
Trump transition spokesperson Brian Hughes dismissed the tariff concerns at the time. “President Trump has promised tariff policies that protect the American manufacturers and working men and women from the unfair practices of foreign companies and foreign markets.”