On February 20, 2026 the US Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against Trump’s IEEPA tariffs putting a temporary halt to the administration’s global trade policy.
Since taking office in 2025, Trump has been upending the global trade order by randomly raising tariffs on most of America’s trading partners, sowing chaos, unpredictability, and instability for small and large businesses alike from Costco and Walmart to mom and pop importers such as myself.
Contrary to what the Trump administration claims that foreign companies or countries pay tariffs, the fact is US importers or the importer of record (IOR), i.e., companies bringing goods into the US for resale pay the duty.
For example, when Target or Best Buy orders products from China, Vietnam, Taiwan or Mexico, these US companies are on the hook to pay the tariffs when their container enters a US port-of-entry.
And what do these companies eventually do? Sooner or later, they generally pass on these costs to you and I, the end consumer.
In fact, The Budget Lab at Yale, a nonpartisan research think tank that analyses policy decisions and their effect on Americans has claimed that Trump’s tariffs have cost American households $3,800 in 2025.
They argue that tariffs are a regressive tax, meaning lower income Americans are affected disproportionately more than higher income households.
For example, if you work at a low salary job, perhaps in the restaurant or retail industry, when you purchase imported goods such as electronics, clothing or foods for consumption, more of your income will be going to pay these higher tariff costs compared to a high net income earner.
The US Supreme Court’s landmark decision means that importers can now work with their customs brokers---the service companies that helped file duties on behalf of importers---to file a post summary correction (PSC) to recoup some if not all of their paid duties.
It may take months before importers get reimbursed, however, for small importers like myself, any chance of receiving money issued by the US government is a lifeline.
Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/zsvQBNTp1nw?si=8IWOW7i8KXVKfKsD
Listen to podcast: https://vinhho.podbean.com/e/102-breaking-supreme-court-strikes-down-trump-tariffs/
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