FedEx Says It Could Return Tariff Refunds to Customers

If a federal court orders the Trump administration to repay billions of dollars collected from its tariffs, the shipping giant FedEx announced this week that it would return the money to customers who bore the brunt of those charges.

The new pledge came days after FedEx sued the U.S. government to secure a refund, part of a rapidly widening roster of businesses that have sought to seize on a recent Supreme Court ruling that struck down many of President Trump’s taxes on imports.

FedEx, like other carriers, often acts as an importer of record, but it passes along the duties paid to the customers and companies that purchased the goods. With its announcement this week, the shipper appears to be the first large business to signal it would share any refunds it obtains from tariffs, which some companies have sought to abate over the past year by raising their prices.

“Our intent is straightforward: If refunds are issued to FedEx, we will issue refunds to the shippers and consumers who originally bore those charges,” the company said in a statement.

FedEx said the timeline and process for those refunds would depend on “future guidance from the government and the court.”

For now, the legal battle over refunds is only just beginning. The stakes for businesses and the U.S. government are high, given that the Trump administration had collected more than $100 billion under its slate of emergency duties before a majority of the justices invalidated the president’s approach last Friday.

Major companies including Costco, the buy-in-bulk retailer; L’Oreal, the cosmetics giant; and Dyson, which makes vacuums, have filed their own lawsuits in the weeks before and after the Supreme Court decision. FedEx, for its part, did not estimate in its lawsuit how much it had paid in tariffs.

Mr. Trump, who has started trying to replace his duties by other means, has recently suggested that the process to adjudicate refund claims could take “years.” His comments suggested that the administration may be readying for a legal battle over money, even though the government previously told federal judges that it would repay duties if required. One panel of judges still considering the case has asked the Trump administration to weigh in by Friday.

But top aides to Mr. Trump have said they would ultimately comply with whatever the court rules. The commitment from Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, came as he attacked FedEx directly over its lawsuit this week, telling NBC that the company’s top executive should “explain how he’s going to get the money back to the consumers if he, in fact, passed those costs along.”