Democrats attack on tariffs, seeing a potential weakness for Trump
President Donald Trump said in his State of the Union address that a new round of 10% blanket tariffs will remain in place. Credit: AP/Alex Brandon
WASHINGTON — Democrats are seizing on President Donald Trump’s recent defeat before the U.S. Supreme Court — a ruling that struck down a large swath of his global tariffs — to play up their own economic messaging in a competitive midterm election year.
As Trump doubles down on his pledge to keep tariffs in place as a signature piece of his economic agenda, Democrats are ramping up calls for his administration to refund billions of dollars in tariff revenue collected from U.S. companies that paid higher import taxes over the past year. Trump last spring rolled out tariffs on foreign allies and adversaries alike ranging from 10% to 41% of a good's value.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand last week called on the Trump administration to issue refund checks to companies and consumers who have paid more for imported goods over the past year because of the tariffs.
"Having unlawfully seized billions of dollars from American people and businesses, the federal government should now do the right thing: give it back," Hochul wrote in a letter sent to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday.
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND
- Democrats are seizing on President Donald Trump’s recent tariff's defeat before the U.S. Supreme Court to play up their own economic messaging in a competitive midterm election year.
- They are also ramping up their calls for his administration to refund billions of dollars in tariff revenue.
- But the president argued in his State of the Union address that he could impose tariffs without congressional approval.
Trump and administration officials are girding for a fight — asserting publicly that the issue of reimbursements could take years to play out in the courts.
"We'll end up being in court for the next five years," Trump said at a Feb. 20 White House news conference when asked whether he would reimburse companies that paid tariffs.
As the fight between Democrats and Trump plays out, the tariffs issue may not only be a losing issue for Trump in the courts, but among moderate swing voters heading into this year’s midterms, said Lawrence Levy, executive dean of Hofstra University’s National Center for Suburban Studies.
"As long as swing voters see tariffs as a tax that isn’t making their lives more affordable, tariffs will continue to be a losing issue for Trump as polls and now even the Supreme Court suggests they are," Levy said in an email to Newsday. "Tariffs will be a losing issue especially with moderate suburbanites who tend to view taxes more skeptically than most, since they are already burdened by the highest property and other taxes to support the level of services they enjoy."
Trump, in his State of the Union address on Tuesday, vowed a new round of 10% blanket tariffs will "remain in place under fully approved and tested alternative legal statutes," despite the court's Feb. 20 ruling invalidating his use of presidential powers to enact a global tariff plan last spring.
The president, in his speech, argued he could impose tariffs without congressional approval, and maintained that tariffs were a critical national security tool that gave the U.S. leverage against foreign nations.
"I used these tariffs, took in hundreds of billions of dollars to make great deals for our country, both economically and on a national security basis," Trump said.
Calls for refunds
Hochul, Schumer and Gillibrand each called on Trump to immediately return the roughly $175 billion collected from tariffs over the past year, as hundreds of U.S. companies have filed lawsuits with the Court of International Trade seeking a refund.
Schumer and Senate Democrats on Friday issued a letter to Bessent demanding the administration "establish a transparent and expeditious refund process that prioritizes small businesses and ensures that funds are returned to those who bore the costs."
"The American people — small business owners, importers, manufacturers, and the consumers who ultimately bore the cost of these illegal taxes — deserve better than this stonewalling," the letter states. "This money does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to the businesses and individuals you illegally taxed."
Gillibrand, in a virtual news conference on Wednesday, encouraged small business owners to file claims with the court, and pressed the administration to release the tariff funds.
"Prices are up for housing, groceries, electricity and other everyday essentials because of President Trump’s tariffs," Gillibrand said.
Hochul wrote Bessent on Thursday calling on the federal government to return $13.5 billion to New York households, or $1,751 for every household, a figure pulled from a recent Budget Lab at Yale study that estimated the average cost increase for most American households after the tariffs went into effect.
"New Yorkers have felt the consequences of these tariffs ripple through every sector of our economy," Hochul wrote. "Consumers have paid dramatically more for everyday goods. Small businesses have faced increased supply and equipment costs."
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who have both been floated as potential 2028 Democratic presidential contenders, have also publicly called on the Trump administration to return tariff funds to businesses and consumers.
Trump's response
Asked about the growing calls by Democrats for quick reimbursements, White House spokesman Kush Desai, in an email to Newsday, argued Democrats have long talked about the issues Trump is looking to address through the use of tariffs.
"Democrats spent decades talking about lopsided ‘free’ trade deals, reshoring middle-class manufacturing jobs and lowering prescription drug prices," Desai said. "President Trump used tariffs to actually deliver where Democrats could only talk, so naturally Democrats are resorting to gathering more meaningless popcorn headlines."
The likelihood that consumers will receive a direct check in the mail remains a long shot, with tariff policy experts noting that businesses pay the tariffs upfront and typically pass along the costs to consumers, making it more likely that retailers would be the first in line for any sort of refund.
The Supreme Court did not provide guidance on a process to return the money collected from the invalidated tariffs, and as such Trump administration officials have said they expect the issue could take time to resolve in the courts.
Trump told reporters at his Feb. 20 briefing: "I guess it has to get litigated over for the next two years."
Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.
'You have neurologic effects, you have hematological or blood effects' Lead-contaminated drinking water was found in nearly 3,000 water fixtures in Long Island schools. NewsdayTV's Andrew Ehinger reports.
'You have neurologic effects, you have hematological or blood effects' Lead-contaminated drinking water was found in nearly 3,000 water fixtures in Long Island schools. NewsdayTV's Andrew Ehinger reports.
