Democrats are demanding the money back after the Supreme Court ruled against President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs. This is the latest hypothetical plan to redistribute tariff revenue to Americans.
After the Supreme Court ruled against President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on imports, some Democrats are pushing for rebates to Americans, the latest hypothetical plan to redistribute tariff revenue to ordinary Americans.
The country’s highest court ruled on February 20 that it does not have the authority to unilaterally impose tariffs enacted under the emergency powers law, which President Trump has used as part of a diplomatic strategy to constantly change tax rates on target countries.
Democrats, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, are demanding rebates of at least $1,700 per household, and Pritzker has sent the Trump administration a bill for that amount per household in the state.
President Trump reacts to SCOTUS tariff decision to lower tariffs
After expressing disappointment with the SCOTUS tariff decision, President Donald Trump announced that he had signed an order imposing 10% tariffs worldwide.
“For more than a year, Donald Trump has been illegally taxing groceries, furniture, and cars. It’s time for a refund,” Newsom said.
Their idea follows months of speculation that has long surfaced about President Trump’s plan to send $2,000 duty refund checks to some Americans. The fate of that plan remains unclear.
Meanwhile, President Trump announced plans to enact tariffs using a different legal mechanism.
Tariff rebate checks have long emerged amid skepticism
Americans have felt the effects of tariffs, from higher prices on products they regularly purchase to receiving unexpected tariff bills in the mail. The average American household paid more than $1,700 in tariffs as of January, according to a report by Democrats on the Congressional Joint Economic Committee. The nonpartisan Tax Foundation said in a report in early February that the tariffs would cost households an average of $1,000 in 2025.
When President Trump first started mentioning the idea of rebate checks for Americans, it seemed like a welcome relief to some. Some people believed it when they saw it.
Experts say the checks never had a specific path. Tax analysts have said the revenue generated by the tariffs will not be enough to send $2,000 to Americans, and details such as how and when the checks will be sent are up in the air.
“It’s not clear to me that they will actually happen,” said Stephen Derlauf, an economist and director of the Stone Center for Research on Wealth Inequality and Mobility at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy.
President Trump initially suggested that the tariff revenue could be used to send checks to Americans in 2025. Since then, the amount of the proposed checks and their schedule have changed. In a Jan. 7 interview with the New York Times, President Trump seemed to forget that he had promised that the checks would be for $2,000 and could be sent to Americans with “moderate” incomes toward the end of 2026.
But checks related to customs revenue are never likely to be made, Dulauf said. There is no precedent or clear legal basis for a president to distribute tariff revenue to Americans in the form of checks, so if any stimulus checks were to be implemented, they would likely come from other sources under Trump’s control, he said.
Durauf noted that the stimulus checks sent at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic were approved by Congress under exceptional circumstances. On the contrary, rebate checks for individuals have already been proposed in Congress but have not moved forward. In July 2025, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri introduced the American Worker Rebate Act, which would provide qualifying individuals with at least $600 in revenue from tariffs, but the legislation received no further consideration in committee.
And President Trump suggested that the $1,776 checks sent to military personnel while on leave came from customs revenue, when they actually came from the military housing fund that Congress appropriated for the Pentagon.
Businesses win battle for refunds
The Supreme Court’s decision was a victory for thousands of companies that have sued to recover billions of dollars in duties already collected, including importers such as Costco, Revlon and Goodyear Tire.
The Trump administration has said in court that companies would receive refunds if the Supreme Court overturns the tariffs. But those refunds may still be a long way off. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Reuters in January that repayments could take weeks or even a year.
President Trump previously said on social media about the prospect of refunds: “It would be complete chaos and it would be almost impossible for our country to pay.” On February 20, he said at a press conference that the Supreme Court had not addressed the mechanics of refunds.
For Americans wondering whether the need to pay back tariff revenue will dash hopes for economic stimulus, Durauf said cause and effect aren’t that simple. Drauf said it was unlikely that the tariff revenue would lead to check payments in the first place, and that Trump probably simply tied it to the tariff revenue to regain support after the tariffs proved unpopular.
“The bottom line is, it wasn’t very likely before, and it’s not very likely now,” Drauf said of refund checks to taxpayers.
Contributors: Bart Jansen, Maureen Groppe, Kinsey Crowley, Daniel de Visé, America today. Reuters
(This story has been updated to include new information and video.)
