FedEx just became the first major American company to sue the federal government for a full refund of the IEEPA tariffs that the Supreme Court declared illegal last Friday. The 11-page complaint, filed Monday at the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York, names U.S. Customs and Border Protection and its commissioner as defendants. FedEx wants every dollar back.
The stakes here extend far beyond one shipping company. Analysts estimate that the now-illegal tariffs collected as much as $175 billion from American businesses since Trump imposed them last year under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that only Congress has the authority to impose tariffs during peacetime — effectively declaring the entire legal basis for these duties unconstitutional. FedEx alone warned in September that U.S. trade policies would cost the company roughly $1 billion in earnings for the fiscal year, about 16% of its total prior-year profit.
FedEx is not alone in this fight — just the fastest. Costco had already filed a preemptive suit before the Supreme Court ruling, and that case remains pending at the same court. The floodgates are now open. Every major importer — retailers, manufacturers, automakers, tech companies — has a potential claim. This could become one of the largest coordinated refund actions in U.S. trade history.
But do not expect quick resolution. The Supreme Court’s ruling did not explicitly address refunds, leaving the mechanics entirely unsettled. President Trump himself acknowledged that companies seeking their money back could be tied up in courts “for the next five years.” No refund process has been established by regulators or the courts. FedEx stated on its website that it “has taken necessary action to protect the company’s rights” but cautioned it is still waiting for guidance from the government.
Here is what matters for investors: the tariff uncertainty is not over — it is mutating. The White House reimposed duties under different legal authority almost immediately after the ruling. So businesses are still paying tariffs, just under a new framework. Meanwhile, the refund claims create a massive potential liability for the federal government. Companies with significant import exposure — think FDX, COST, WMT, AMZN, AAPL — could see material windfalls if refunds actually materialize. The smart play is to watch which companies file next and how aggressively. Those legal filings are the clearest signal of how much pain these tariffs actually caused behind the earnings reports.