Bessent calls $166B tariff refund a 'corporate bonanza'

(The Center Square) – Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday called the $166 billion in court-ordered tariff refunds a "corporate bonanza," as the money flows to the importers that paid the duties rather than the consumers who bore most of the cost.

By law, the refunds go to the importers of record who paid the duties at the border, not directly to the consumers who absorbed the cost through higher prices. The Congressional Budget Office estimated in February that consumers face price increases equal to 95% of tariff costs, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that U.S. firms and consumers, not the foreign exporters the administration says pay, bore nearly 90% of the tariffs' economic burden.