FedEx has sued seeking a full refund of the emergency Trump administration tariffs it has paid, after last week’s Supreme Court decision striking the measures down.
The suit, filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade Monday, requests a refund plus interest for the tariffs FedEx paid under the president’s sweeping International Emergency Economic Powers Act levies.
The complaint does not list how much FedEx has paid in tariffs, but said the president’s executive orders establishing the IEEPA levies on most U.S. trading partners had caused “injury” to the firm.
FedEx has paid Trump-related tariffs both through its brokerage business for U.S. importers and directly on behalf of U.S. consumers getting packages.
The suit, which targets U.S. Customs and Border Protection, marks the first major legal action against the administration following Friday’s 6-to-3 ruling, which left the refund question to lower courts.
“FedEx has taken necessary action to protect the company’s rights as an importer of record to seek duty refunds,” the company said in a statement Monday to The New York Times.
The Independent has contacted the White House and CBP for comment.
During a 2025 earnings call, FedEx said it estimated a $1 billion impact on its profits as a result of Trump trade policies.
In December, prior to the Supreme Court ruling, wholesale retailer Costco filed a similar suit in the trade court seeking a tariff refund.
The high court decision may now open the legal floodgates.
There are more than 1,500 pending tariff refund lawsuits, many of them filed after the Supreme Court heard arguments in the tariff case in November, according to a Bloomberg analysis, and more than 300,000 importers have paid an estimated $175 billion in levies as part of the Trump policy.
The Trump administration has offered mixed messages about refunds.
In previous legal filings in trade court, the administration has suggested refunds would be available to those who successfully challenged the tariffs.
After the Supreme Court ruling came down, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNN it was “up to the lower court” to issue opinions on refunds.
President Trump, meanwhile, has suggested a more adversarial approach could be coming.
“I guess it has to get litigated for the next two years,” he said in a Friday press conference.
Senate Democrats unveiled a bill on Monday demanding Customs and Border Protection issue refunds within the next 180 days.
“Trump’s illegal tax scheme has already done lasting damage to American families, small businesses and manufacturers who have been hammered by wave after wave of new Trump tariffs,” Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon told the Associated Press.
Following the Supreme Court decision, the president claimed other legal authorities allowed him to impose a new 15 percent tariff on a variety of nations.
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