As the federal government begins to issue refunds to companies impacted by the now-overturned tariffs, the big shipping companies are expected to reimburse their customers.
The refunds are starting to show up in the hands of companies and now comes the telling moment when we find out which are going to pass the savings along to their customers and which have other ideas on what to do with the money.
When the Supreme Court ruled a series of tariffs illegal and ordered the federal government to return that money it took some time for the systems to be put into place to process the refunds. That has now happened and the first funds are starting to be returned.
Of the $166 billion that was illegally collected and needs to be refunded, a sizeable portion will go to three big logistics companies: UPS, FedEx and DHL. Now those three are saying that once they get their refunds, they will return them to their customers.
Because the shipping companies were considered the importers of record in tariff processing, individual customers or consumers cannot request refunds on their own.
“The reports are not useful for customers to act on their own or to estimate individual refund amounts,” FedEx said in a recent interview. “Our intent is straightforward: if refunds are issued to FedEx, we will issue refunds for IEEPA tariffs paid to the shippers and consumers who originally bore those charges.”
UPS and DHL made similar statements, saying the refunds would be automatically processed and that their customers didn’t need to contact them to request payments. UPS did note it will withhold any fees associated with processing that are not subject to refunds.
As of this date, it is not believed that any of the three companies have received their refunds yet, as that process just began earlier this month. There were no estimates as to when they will be able to process their refunds to their customers.
