By Costco Wholesale has entered the legal fray over President Donald Trump’s expansive tariff program, filing suit in the U.S. Court of International Trade as the Supreme Court weighs the legality of the administration’s emergency-based trade powers.
The complaint, submitted Friday, seeks to ensure the retail giant can claim refunds on duties it has paid should the Court ultimately invalidate the tariffs, according to ABC News. At the heart of Costco’s argument is a constitutional challenge: the company asserts that only Congress may set tariffs, and that the president exceeded his authority by invoking a 1977 emergency statute to impose levies on imports from more than 100 countries.
Costco’s lawsuit states that the Court of International Trade and other federal courts “have agreed the IEEPA duties are not authorized” and are unlawful.
“This separate action is necessary, however, because even if the IEEPA duties and underlying executive orders are held unlawful by the Supreme Court, importers that have paid IEEPA duties, including Plaintiff, are not guaranteed a refund for those unlawfully collected tariffs in the absence of their own judgment and judicial relief,” the lawsuit states.
The White House pushed back immediately. Spokesperson Kush Desai said the “economic consequences of the failure to uphold President Trump’s lawful tariffs are enormous and this suit highlights that fact. The White House looks forward to the Supreme Court’s speedy and proper resolution of this matter.” Administration lawyers have long argued that IEEPA’s permission to “regulate” the “importation” of foreign goods provides sufficient legal grounding for the tariff regime.
Costco casts the program as unstable and disruptive for businesses, explained The New York Times. In its filing, the company notes that duties have been “threatened, modified, suspended, and reimposed, with the markets gyrating in response.” The retailer did not disclose how much it has paid in tariffs to date.
The case arrives as smaller firms have already notched wins in lower courts. V.O.S. Selections, a wine and spirits importer, and Learning Resources, Inc., an educational-toys manufacturer, both prevailed in earlier rounds of litigation. Their challenges — part of a consolidated group of appeals — reached the Supreme Court last month, where justices heard arguments on whether Trump’s use of emergency authority to reshape trade policy violated constitutional limits. A ruling is expected soon.
Trump has repeatedly touted the tariffs as a financial boon for the federal government, saying they have generated “hundreds of billions of dollars.” But officials concede that if the Court strikes down the program, the government could face extensive refund obligations from companies across the economy.
Even so, a reversal would not eliminate the president’s ability to raise trade barriers. Multiple other statutes remain available to the executive branch — several already in use — that permit targeted or sector-specific import restrictions. For now, Costco’s lawsuit positions one of the country’s largest retailers to move swiftly if the Court decides the current tariff architecture rests on shaky legal ground.
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