The US is issuing billions in tariff refunds. That won’t unwind the damage to the global trading system

The US is beginning to refund nearly one hundred seventy billion dollars in tariffs following a Supreme Court ruling that struck down President Trump's initial tariff authority. In February, the court ruled six to three that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act—a Cold War-era law—does not authorize tariffs; only Congress can impose those. But the refunds won't undo the damage. Small business importers averaged three hundred six thousand dollars in extra costs while the tariffs were in effect, and many lost customers and had to renegotiate contracts. The Trump administration has already shifted to other legal mechanisms: an immediate ten percent global tariff expiring July twenty-fourth, and new targeted tariffs of twelve point five percent starting that same day on exports from fifty-four countries, including Australia and China. As The Conversation reports, the deeper cost is the uncertainty itself—markets fragment as businesses seek predictable access rather than bracing for sudden disruption.

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