US has paid $81 billion in tariff refunds after Supreme Court ruling

The US government has paid $81 billion in tariff refunds so far this fiscal year after the Supreme Court ruled a large share of President Donald Trump's extra tariffs illegal, according to budget figures released Monday.

Tariffs are taxes on imported goods. They have been a key part of Trump's economic plan since he returned to office last year. In February, the Supreme Court blocked a large part of the additional tariffs he had ordered, requiring the government to return money to companies that had paid them.

The current fiscal year began in October 2025. Budget data show $81 billion in tariff refunds so far this fiscal year, compared with $5 billion during the same period a year earlier.

A Treasury Department official told reporters that the increase was almost entirely because of the Supreme Court decision, and that most of the refunds took place in May and June.

Trump had promoted the tariffs as a way to bring factories back to the United States, secure better trade deals and reduce the federal budget deficit. AFP reported that the deficit had narrowed somewhat last year because of tariff income but is now rising again.

The federal deficit reached $1.367 trillion in the first nine months of the fiscal year, up two percent. The United States also spent more than $1 trillion on interest payments on its debt, up 14 percent. Military spending rose five percent, which AFP attributed to the war in the Middle East.