KEY POINTS

Federal Express sued the U.S. government, seeking a “full refund” of the money the shipping giant paid for tariffs unilaterally imposed by Donald Trump, which the Supreme Court last week ruled were illegal.

FedEx’s suit appears to be the first one filed by a major U.S. company after the Supreme Court decision seeking a refund of the tariffs it has paid.

Other companies filed lawsuits seeking refunds before the high court ruled that the tariffs Trump imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act are illegal.

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[–] 163 points 8 months ago (12 children)

Hey FedEx, you’re gonna refund the customers that you passed those tariffs onto, right?

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  • [+] -35 points 8 months ago (9 children)

    Real talk...

    I ordered some shit not thinking about tarrifs, and one item from Slovenia where the seller explicitly reached out to say there's be tariffs and to make sure it was cool since some Americans flipped out...

    I never paid a single tariff.

    Like, when exactly were people getting charged?

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  • [–] 46 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

    the seller explicitly reached out

    The times the seller didn't do that. A few times now I've ordered something with no tariff charges mentioned not realizing that I was ordering out of country only to get an email saying it's being held by the delivery company, they paid to get it through customs, and won't deliver until I pay them.

    That's just things that I've bought directly from other countries though. Most goods just have higher prices to cover any tariffs (or just because they can). I promise you even if you haven't paid a tariff directly, you're still paying.

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  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago* (1 child)

    Weird, it was just the first sentence at first.

    ordered something with no tariff charges mentioned not realizing that I was ordering out of country only to get an email saying it’s being held by the delivery company, they paid to get it through customs, and won’t deliver until I pay them.

    Yeah, that's what I expected, didn't happen tho.

    I promise you even if you haven’t paid a tariff directly, you’re still paying.

    I know it raised the prices of things in America, but I meant explicitly ordering things from other countries that should have been tariffed, and no one ever tariffed me

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  • [–] 33 points 8 months ago

    It kind of amazes me that you've managed to navigate the previous year without understanding this but...

    You've been paying the tariffs every time you consume anything at all, it's just that no one called you to inform you that some component of what you've paid is a tariff.

    Suppose there are 2 brands of toothbrush at the shop, one from China and one from the US. They're equivalent in every way and last year they were $1 each. Since the tariffs, goods from China have attracted a 50% (?) tariff, so if the cost price is $0.90, then the new cost is $1.35, plus a markup for the shop and that's $1.50. The problem, if it's not already obvious, is that the US producer can just increase the price of their toothbrushes to $1.35.

    The really daft part is, the US producer's costs will have increased with tariffs in the same way, and their employees spending power will have decreased.

    As an aside, IIRC you've often opined that voting for Kamala would have been tantamount to supporting genocide. I think we might have had some discussions around that. Your comment provides a fascinating insight into the kind of cognitive ability that supports that position, so thank you for that.

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  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    Hey just a shot in the dark here, but was it a puzzle book? My favorite puzzle book guy is from Slovenia.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago

    I ordered a PC from China a couple of weeks ago. I got an email saying they were declaring the item's value to be $80 to mitigate tariffs. I expected to have to pay something when it arrived, but it was just dropped at my doorstep like any other delivery.

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  • [–] 65 points 8 months ago (4 children)

    Governor Pritzker of Illinois has already sent a demand letter for $1700 for each household in Illinois.

    They should have to pay back all corporations, and then send a check to every household. It was this administration that caused this, and they should have to pay for it.

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  • [–] 45 points 8 months ago (3 children)

    Problem is, it won't be paid by Trump & co., it'll be paid by taxpayers. And the tax cuts for the wealthy that depended on the revenue increase from the tariffs, aren't going away.

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  • [–] 6 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    So the tax payers get a refund by paying extra taxes. And yet I'm not allowed to pay off MY credit cards with other credit cards. So unfair.

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  • [–] 47 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    I should sue for a refund too. It's my money and I want it now.

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  • [–] 97 points 8 months ago (9 children)

    Realistically since the American consumer ultimately paid it, it should be returned via a tax credit on our taxes. That was it doesn’t matter if you paid via higher prices, or flat out paid import fees. It goes back to the consumer.

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  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago*

    I think maaaaybe on b2b or larger transactions that included a Tariff line item in the invoice. The $2 widget you bought at Dollar Tree, not likely.

    From the POV of a business it cost them more labor and money to collect and pay the tariffs and now getting reimbursed and paying the customers/clients back would cost them even more labor and money.

    It's an unfunded cluster fuck of an issue that never should have happened to begin with.

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  • [–] 6 points 8 months ago (6 children)

    You kept receipts for everything you bought since the tariffs went live?

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  • [–] 16 points 8 months ago (4 children)

    Nope, which is why it should be a standard amount. For example, Illinois is suing for $1700/person regardless of what they spent. That’s what they calculated out was the average.

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  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago (3 children)

    And if you spent more than the $1700?

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  • [–] 8 points 8 months ago

    It’s never going to be perfect. Good luck with that, but the question is “did you spend more than $1700 in tariffs?” I mean you’re welcome to try to sue every company and the government directly to get it back.

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  • [–] 46 points 8 months ago (3 children)

    Turns out running a country like a company with no clue how to run a company is a bad idea. 

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  • [–] 6 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    Yeah but the casinos… oh nvm.

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  • [–] 38 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    I needed a replacement for an item hat failed under warranty. The original part was made in Canada, and a replacement was mailed to me free of charge. Except, I got a note from FedEx that i had to pay tarriffs... My tariff was $5, but FedEx was charging a $25 tariff handling fee on top of the $5. And if I didn't prepay, they would instead charge $40 total to collect my $5 tarriff.

    FUCK FedeEx for having the audacity to request a refund from the federal government on top of their blind extortion. These fuckers need to burn.

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  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

    They'll charge you another $25 fee to process your $5 refund if you want it.

    Edit: this was a joke ... i just realized someone that paid a very big tariff might actually think they were offering a refund for $25 and would want it.

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  • [–] 30 points 8 months ago (4 children)

    DID Fed Ex pay those tariffs? It seems to me that those costs were passed on to the consumers.

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  • [–] 20 points 8 months ago

    They're suing on behalf of their customers. I'm sure they will also be spending the settlement on behalf of their customers as well.

    This was entirely predictable, also don't expect cost to go down now either.

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  • [–] 5 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    I agree that Fed Ex should be sending those refunds to everyone who has to pay them.

    But I think FedEX should be able to sue. It used to be anything under $600 didn't get a tariff. It was too costly and burdensome on the package handlers to collect the tariff. Also the system was designed to hold those $600 packages, not all the packages. Instead of ramping up Fed Ex had to handle a new system blind, with no preparation time. That had to effect core business

    Hell would love to see a class action suit by all the package shippers and handlers against the government for what they had to go through

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  • [–] 28 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    This is gonna be a clusterfuck.

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  • [–] 15 points 8 months ago

    Who do I sue to get back the illegal tarrifs I paid on the hot tub I imported?

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  • [–] 11 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    Corpos passed the cost of those tariffs on to consumers in the form of higher prices. They already GOT paid. But why screw consumers once when you can do it twice?

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  • [–] 5 points 8 months ago

    Oh no... It's not just once... They passed the rate of the tarrifs on to us, now they'll recoup the cost that WE paid, AND they'll continue to charge us at those increased rates even if the tarrifs are lifted.

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  • [–] 9 points 8 months ago

    Its only been a year and we're at billions in illegal taxes to be returned.

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  • [–] 6 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    Yeah Trump now you have to pay everyone back with all the country's money you laundered away from US and venezuela, and the corrupt deals you made with, among others, saudi arabia. Maybe you can still make some coin on the international trade you wanna set up with ruzzia. Hope he also has to pay back everyone he scammed with his bitcoins.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    The problem is the money is just going to go to the businesses who passed the cost to their customers.

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  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago*

    Then sue the businesses, isn't their a customer watchdog that can sue them? In europe we have those https://commission.europa.eu/live-work-travel-eu/consumer-rights-and-complaints/enforcement-consumer-protection_en https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/europe-s-privacy-watchdog-launches-large-scale-probe-into-elon-musk-s-x/ar-AA1WvE8Q but yeah justice is quite gone from america and business have more power than citizens so yeah lmao thats what it means to be american ig

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  • [–] 4 points 8 months ago
    [–] 2 points 8 months ago

    They'll get their tariff money back - if they remember to bribe Donny. Otherwise, he'll probably try to get federal agencies to harass them.

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