Last month, the United States Supreme Court declared President Trump’s tariffs levied under the IEEPA to be illegal. By that point, billions of dollars in now-illegal tariffs had already been collected, leaving the question open as to what will happen to those funds. Several companies have already sued the US government to recoup their tariff costs, and now Nintendo is joining them, as reported by Aftermath.
In the court filing, Nintendo requests a full tariff refund in no uncertain terms. “Plaintiff requests that, consistent with the Supreme Court’s ruling in Learning Resources and the Federal Circuit’s and this Court’s rulings in V.O.S. Selections, this Court order the prompt refund, with interest, of any IEEPA duties paid by Plaintiff regardless of liquidation status, and provide any and all remedies that the Court deems appropriate,” states the document.
The lawsuit is being filed in the United States Court of International Trade and names numerous government figures and agencies as defendants. The full list is as follows: The US Department of Homeland Security and recently fired Secretary Kirsti Noem; the Office of the United States Trade Representative and its US trade representative Jamieson Greer; the US Customs and Border Protection and protection commissioner Rodney Scott; and finally, the US Department of Commerce and the secretary of commerce, Howard Lutnick.
Nintendo joins numerous other companies, such as Costco, Staples, and Dole, in filing legal action to be refunded for the now-illegal IEEPA tariffs. Whether or not they’ll be successful–and if the refunds they may collect will be passed back on to consumers–remains to be seen. Currently, US Customs and Border Protection has said in a court filing that its current systems are unable to process tariff refunds immediately, but may be ready within a 45-day window.
