00:00The government has so far paid companies
00:0286 billion dollars in tariff refunds,
00:05and almost none of it is coming back to you.
00:08Here's what's happening.
00:09In 2025, the Trump administration taxed imports
00:11using emergency powers from a 1977 law.
00:15In February, the Supreme Court said Trump
00:17didn't have the authority,
00:19which means the money has to go back.
00:21Customs officials say they've paid about
00:2286 billion dollars in refunds so far
00:25out of 166 billion collected under those tariffs.
00:28New York Fed researchers found nearly 90%
00:31of the cost of those tariffs landed
00:33on American companies and consumers.
00:35So you are part of the people who paid for those tariffs.
00:38Axios reports the majority of companies
00:40who've discussed their plans mostly expect to use the money
00:43to absorb inflation rather than cutting prices.
00:46PepsiCo's CFO Steve Schmidt told Wall Street
00:48the refund is going toward offsetting commodity inflation.
00:52McCormick's CFO said the same thing,
00:54pointing to the Middle East conflict driving up costs.
00:56But Axios also reported BJ's Wholesale actually passed theirs on,
01:00trimming what consumers pay about half a percent.
01:03Researchers at the Atlanta Federal Reserve estimate
01:05only about a third of the refund money is going to companies
01:08tight enough on cash they'd actually put it to use,
01:11like cutting costs or hiring.
01:13So the refunds are mostly going toward new costs,
01:16not undoing the price hikes the tariffs caused.
01:19But where do you think the refund money should be going?
01:21Let us know in the comments.
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