“I wish I lived during precedented times.”
No one knows who said it first, but it’s become something of a common refrain and joke these days, as we are so often reminded of the “unprecedented” nature of a current event.
And yet, it cannot be overstated just how unprecedented the current situation is involving tariff refunds. In February, SCOTUS ruled that President Donald Trump didn’t have the authority to impose global tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Because Trump had already imposed those tariffs for the better part of 2025, that meant importers were owed more than $150 billion in refunds.
The process officially began on April 20. Now, over 11 million entries have been received by the online portal created by Customs and Border Protection.
The first refunds were expected to be paid by May 11, but as of May 6, some companies have already received money in their bank accounts, Bloomberg News reported. “Daniel Cannistra of Crowell & Moring declined to name his client or the amount they had received but did say that the company’s payment included interest.” Cannistra also told Bloomberg News that more companies had received notice that they’re scheduled to get refund payments starting Thursday.
- Another lawyer, Mollie Sitkowski of Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath, also told Bloomberg News that some of her importer clients have already received refunds.
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It’s important to look at all of this through a wide perspective. The overruling and the unprecedent nature of the tariffs is relevant to the current situation because it calls back to the uncertainty that importers faced throughout 2025. Importers, across all industries, were forced into difficult decisions, any number of which might have had a domino effect on them or their distributor partners and end clients. Presumably, all parties attempted to handle the dynamic in a way that was fair, or at the very least, kept business running through difficult times.
- Now, as refunds are potentially owed, there is the complicated nature of figuring out how and if that money should be dispersed.
- Democratic Senator Edward Markey has sent a letter to giant retailers like Amazon and Wamart asking them what “concrete steps” they are taking to pass down those refunds to consumers and small businesses.
PPAI Media has learned, perhaps unsurprisingly, of multiple suppliers that have received inquiries from distributors concerning whether they will be filling out applications through the U.S. Custom and Border Protection Agency’s online portal. Inevitably, the follow-up question is whether said distributor will see any of that refund money. For reasons stated above, the answers to that are complicated and can vary from instance to instance.
Likewise, PPAI’s public affairs manager, Rachel Zoch, CAS has already received a distributor inquiry regarding whether suppliers owe them a refund and if they in turn owe one to their customers. As Zoch related, there aren’t universal circumstances to these instances, making it a matter of discretion but one that should be factoring in decisions made all along the timeline. This isn’t something that PPAI is able to weigh in on at an individual basis.
‘Product Costing Is Like A Stew’
PPAI Media touched base with a few suppliers – on and off the record – in order to get their thoughts and status on the tariff refunds. It may be impossible to set a universal template for what distributors can expect to hear back from suppliers when bringing up the issue but potentially setting more contextualized expectations could help produce productive dialogue.
- One PPAI 100 supplier, who chose to remain anonymous, used the analogy that “product costing is like a stew.”
In this analogy, there are on-hand inventories, inbound inventories and on order inventories. So, when tariffs were presented – which keep in mind were changing or being threatened consistently, sometimes by the week – each supplier that was providing stock imprinted product was averaging their exposure in the moment. Perhaps the most important factor to remember is that many suppliers were choosing to offer pre-tariff prices as they were learning of the developments and then many were absorbing much of the tariff costs once they went into effect.
PPAI 100 Supplier
“The idea that suppliers are in a position to recoup rebates and then distribute rebates is unrealistic,” this supplier said.
In an ideal world, steady communication throughout 2025 and healthy partnerships will have helped offset confusion, allowing suppliers and distributors to be on the same page as this situation has arisen. Chris Anderson, CEO of HPG, PPAI 100’s No. 4 supplier, says this has mostly been the case thus far for the Massachusetts-based company.
- Taking a deliberate approach to pricing from the offset, HPG generally held the line on pricing and didn’t pass along increases to match peak tariff levels, Anderson says.
- Instead, any price increases were commensurate with HPG’s ongoing costs of doing business and not knee-jerk, inflated tariff price hikes.
“The natural consequence of this approach meant that, for a time, HPG sold inventory (which had landed during peak tariff levels) at a reduced profit margin,” Anderson says. “However, our message was consistent throughout: We will be patient, take the long view and adjust prices once a new ‘normal’ has been established.”
Chris Anderson
CEO, HPG
Less than two weeks into the CBP’s online portal being open, Anderson says that consistent messaging seems to have made a difference.
“Having clearly communicated this playbook to our distributor partners, we have received only one distributor inquiry into potential tariff refunds,” Anderson says. “This inquiry was part of a general outreach; and, upon reminding the distributor of HPG’s above-outlined approach to pricing, there have been no further requests.”
Going along with the unprecedented nature of all of this is that suppliers have to hope that the government’s portal proves to be effective and operates smoothly, something that at least one supplier has told us isn’t quite the case. Eric Chen, GM of Fossa Apparel, PPAI’s No. 60 supplier, says that, so far, only one distributor has asked about refunds and that Fossa does intend to apply, but that there appear to be early hurdles, and until that is worked out, the firm can’t definitively outline its approach.
Eric Chen
GM, Fossa Apparel
“The site’s tech support seems to be overwhelmed, so I have no idea how long the entire process will take,” Chen says. “When we get more clarity on the process timeline, we will share accordingly.”
- It should be noted that nothing stated thus far is meant to discourage distributors from inquiring with their supplier partners if they feel there is the possibility that they are in a position to receive a portion of a refund.
- The scenarios can vary depending on the exchange, the supplier partner, the country origin or even the time of year that is being referenced.
PPAI Research Data Backs Up Supplier Perspective
How many suppliers absorbed the costs of tariffs and to what degree is not something PPAI can speak to exactly, but PPAI Research has been tracking the growth of both distributors and suppliers throughout 2025 and into 2026.
- From essentially the point tariffs were introduced in 2025, PPAI Research has indicated that distributors have been growing at a higher rate than suppliers, suggesting that the latter are bearing a larger brunt of the tariff burden.
In fact, PPAI’s bi-monthly survey of January and February 2026 showed that distributors and suppliers were still experiencing uneven growth rates (SCOTUS didn’t make its ruling until February 20).
“The data shows that suppliers and distributors are operating in the same market but not experiencing the same level of growth,” said Alok Bhat, market economist and PPAI’s research and public affairs lead. “While overall activity remains stable, performance is not translating evenly across the value chain.”
