Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) speaks during a press conference after the Democratic Party’s weekly policy luncheon at the Capitol on December 9, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Annabelle Gordon Reuter
A group of Senate Democrats on Monday unveiled a bill that would require repayment of tariffs paid under President Donald Trump’s higher mandate, which the Supreme Court rejected on Friday.
The bill, led by Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, and Ed Markey of Massachusetts, follows the Supreme Court’s landmark 6-3 ruling Friday striking down most of President Trump’s tariffs.
“President Trump’s illegal tax policies have already caused lasting damage to American families, small businesses, and manufacturers who have been hit by President Trump’s tariffs one after another,” Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement.
“Senate Democrats will continue to fight to rein in President Donald Trump’s price-gouging trade and economic policies. A critical first step is to help those who need it most by getting money back into the pockets of small businesses and manufacturers as quickly as possible.”
The U.S. government could be forced to refund more than $175 billion to importers, according to estimates from a Penn Wharton budget model commissioned by Reuters.
Friday’s Supreme Court majority opinion did not directly address tariff refunds. In his dissent, Justice Brett Kavanaugh cited oral arguments saying the refund process would likely be “chaotic.”
“The United States could be required to refund billions of dollars to importers who paid IEEPA tariffs, even though some importers may already have passed the costs on to consumers and others,” Kavanaugh wrote, referring to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a 1977 law that the president used last year to impose sweeping tariffs without Congressional approval.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a Fox News interview Friday that refunding would be a logistical nightmare.
“It can take years to litigate and get paid,” he said. “It seems to me that if there were to be a payment, it would be the ultimate corporate welfare benefit. You don’t know, did the Chinese supplier lower the price? Did they lower the price because of the tariffs? The product was imported into the United States. They paid the same price, but they’re going to get the tariff refund.”
House Democrats are also trying to force restitution.
Rep. Stephen Horsford, a Nevada Democrat, introduced a bill in the House on Friday with a similar purpose. Democrats are grappling with an issue that has proven unpopular even among Congressional Republicans ahead of closely watched midterm elections. But neither proposal has a clear path to passage given the Republican majorities in both chambers and the White House’s firm commitment to tariffs.
The Senate bill would require Customs and Border Protection to refund all tariffs imposed under Trump’s novel interpretation of IEEPA.
CBP plans to process all refunds with interest within 180 days of enactment, prioritizing payments to small businesses where possible. It also instructs importers, wholesalers and large corporations to pass on the refunds to their customers.
“President Trump’s reckless and disorderly tariffs have only created uncertainty and pain, raising prices at a time when consumers and businesses can least afford it,” Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement. “Now that the Supreme Court has made clear that the president did not have the authority to unilaterally impose broad emergency tariffs, it is critical that American families and small businesses receive the relief they need.”
