Free Trade

After Paying Illegal Tariffs, Will Small Businesses Get a Refund? 'I'm Not Holding My Breath.'

Even if the refunds are made, business owners say they won't cover all the additional costs created by Trump's chaotic trade policies.

Eric Boehm | 3.5.2026 10:20 AM

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(Illustration: Cassie Abel/Wild Rye/Kuosumo/Dreamstime)

After being charged billions of dollars under President Donald Trump's unlawful tariff scheme, American business owners are now facing the prospect of a lengthy, costly process to obtain refunds—payments that some expect will never arrive.

"I'm not holding my breath," Brandon Eley, founder and president of 2BigFeet, a Georgia-based designer and retailer of large-sized footwear, told Reason in an interview this week.

Eley says 2BigFeet paid more than $10,000 in tariffs last year to import shoes from China and Brazil. The cost of the tariffs led him to lay off a product designer and postpone shipping on several new product lines.

With a small staff and no capacity to hire trade attorneys, small businesses like Eley's are stuck just waiting to see what happens with the refunds.

The Supreme Court ruled two weeks ago that Trump acted illegally when he imposed those tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Thousands of businesses have filed requests for refunds, but Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says those........

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