Costco sues the Trump administration, seeking a refund of tariffs

Costco Wholesale has sued the Trump administration before the Court of International Trade, asking it to consider all tariffs collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act unlawful.

The company said in a filing Friday that it is seeking a “full refund” of all duties under the act paid as a result of President Donald Trump's executive order that imposed what he called "reciprocal" tariffs.

“Because IEEPA does not clearly authorize the President to set tariffs ... the Challenged Tariff Orders cannot stand and the defendants are not authorized to implement and collect them,” Costco's lawyer writes in the lawsuit.

The Supreme Court is reviewing the legality of Trump's sweeping tariff agenda. In oral arguments in early November, justices appeared skeptical about the government's case.

Both conservative and liberal justices asked tough questions to Solicitor General D. John Sauer, though some of the conservatives seemed more sympathetic to his arguments.

Trump became the first president ever to use the IEEPA law to impose import duties. Lower courts earlier ruled against the administration's use of the law but kept the tariffs in place while the case was argued.

Costco does not say in the filing how much the duties have cost the company; importers have paid nearly $90 billion under the IEEPA law, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data through late September.

In May, on Costco's earnings call, Chief Financial Officer Gary Millerchip told investors that about a third of Costco's sales in the U.S. are imported products. Millerchip said items imported from China represented about 8% of total U.S. sales.

Millerchip said that while Costco was seeing a direct impact from tariffs on imports of some fresh food items from Central and South America, it decided not to increase prices "because they are key staple items" for its customers.

Some of those fresh food items included pineapples and bananas. "We essentially held the price on those to make sure that we're protecting the member," he said.

In September, Millerchip told analysts: "We continue to work closely with our suppliers to find ways to mitigate the impact of tariffs, including moving the country of production where it makes sense and consolidating our buying efforts globally to lower the cost of goods across all our markets."

Through the end of October, the government had collected $205 billion in tariffs.

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"The economic consequences of the failure to uphold President Trump’s lawful tariffs are enormous and this suit highlights that fact," White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement Tuesday. "The White House looks forward to the Supreme Court’s speedy and proper resolution of this matter."

With Friday's lawsuit, Costco becomes the latest major company to seek tariff refunds through the courts.

Global cosmetics giant Revlon, eyeglasses maker EssilorLuxottica, motorcycle manufacturer Kawasaki, canned foods seller Bumble Bee, Japanese auto supplier Yokohama Tire and many smaller firms have also filed similar suits.