Trump's tariff blow: US refunds $81 billion after supreme court ruling

According to budget figures released on Monday, the US government has refunded a major portion of the billions of dollars in tariffs unilaterally collected before the Supreme Court ruled them illegal.

Tariffs which are taxes on imported goods have been a central part of Donald Trump’s economic plan since he took office again last year.

The Supreme Court shut down a substantial share of the extra tariffs Trump ordered, compelling the government to return money to the companies that had paid them. 

In this connection, a Treasury Department official told reporters that the spike is predominantly because of the Supreme Court decision with most of the refunds happening in May and June.

Notably, Trump had pitched the tariffs as a blanket solution for the economy, aiming to bring factories back to America, securing preferential agreements and closing the federal budget deficit.

As reported by the Guardian, the deficit which had shown a perceptible decrease last year thanks to the tariff income is now rising again. It has hit $1.367 tn in the first nine months of the fiscal year up 2%.

Nonetheless, the US also spent over $1tn just servicing its debt- accounting for 14% of federal spending and military spending soared by 5% because of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.