The wholesaler is the latest company to sue a federal agency over the president's signature economic policy.

The wholesaler is the latest company to file a lawsuit against a federal agency over the president’s signature economic policy.

Costco Wholesale has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, asking the Court of International Trade to consider all tariffs collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act unlawful.

The company said in a Nov. 28 filing that it is seeking a “full refund” of all IEEPA duties paid as a result of Donald Trump’s executive order which imposed what he called “reciprocal” tariffs.

“Because IEEPA does not clearly authorize the President to set tariffs…the Challenged Tariff Orders cannot stand and the defendants are not authorized to implement and collect them,” Costco’s lawyer writes in the lawsuit.

Global cosmetics giant Revlon, eyeglass maker EssilorLuxottica, motorcycle manufacturer Kawasaki, canned foods seller Bumble Bee, Japanese auto supplier Yokohama Tire and many smaller firms have also filed similar suits

  • gustofwind@lemmy.worldEnglish
    201·
    2 days ago

    This is how they transfer wealth from consumers to corporations

    We pay the tariffs Corporations get the tariff refund

    Trickle up economics as usual

    • Veedem@lemmy.worldEnglish
      38·
      2 days ago

      From the article:

      In May, on Costco’s earnings call, Chief Financial Officer Gary Millerchip told investors that about a third of Costco’s sales in the U.S. are imported products. Millerchip said items imported from China represented about 8% of total U.S. sales.

      Millerchip said that while Costco was seeing a direct impact from tariffs on imports of some fresh food items from Central and South America, it decided not to increase prices “because they are key staple items” for its customers.

      Some of those fresh food items included pineapples and bananas. “We essentially held the price on those to make sure that we’re protecting the member,” he said.

      In September, Millerchip told analysts: “We continue to work closely with our suppliers to find ways to mitigate the impact of tariffs, including moving the country of production where it makes sense and consolidating our buying efforts globally to lower the cost of goods across all our markets.”

    • Rhaedas@fedia.io
      11·
      2 days ago

      Maybe. It depends on if they raised prices first to capture the losses. I know that seems like what a business would do first and what everyone predicted, but did they?

      If it’s true, then Costco just needs to give away free hot dogs meals (drink and side) to their patrons for a year.

      • Pennomi@lemmy.worldEnglish
        12·
        2 days ago

        My small business did not raise prices, and recouping that $6k would make a HUGE difference for us. But I know most companies probably aren’t in the same boat.

          • plantfanatic@sh.itjust.works
            3·
            2 days ago

            What do you think quoted price means…? That’s the risk you take when you quote stuff and prices change within the time they accept it.

            Lots of material goods change prices daily.

            Not holding up your original quoted price is how you lose business and your business in general. You seem to think that you can just choose to not hold up your end of the agreed upon contract? Yikes.

            But hey, such a good business doing what you originally agreed to!

            • JackbyDev@programming.devEnglish
              4·
              2 days ago

              There’s a difference between lamenting the reality of honoring a quote after things change and wishing you didn’t need to. They’re saying they wish the government would pay them back for the tariff, not that they wish they could’ve passed it on to the customer.

              • plantfanatic@sh.itjust.works
                1·
                2 days ago

                So they want the government to fix a regular issue with quoted work…? The price is expected to change, that’s why you quote to begin with…. It’s likely they don’t even know how their system works.

                That’s even worse lmfao.

                It’s quoted work, it’s volatile already, and the customers game it if they know the material goods in going down. Don’t like it? Don’t quote work. It’s not even a relevant detail to their gripe, just bitching for the sake of bitching at this point.

                The price would be different with or without tariffs, but complain without realizing how the system works I guess.

                • JackbyDev@programming.devEnglish
                  2·
                  2 days ago

                  They aren’t just saying “wahhh government, pwease pay the difference of this quote” they’re specifically replying to a thread about a company suing the government for tariff reimbursements and talking about a tariff making the price go up after the quote.

                  • plantfanatic@sh.itjust.works
                    1·
                    2 days ago

                    Did you miss the detail about the VENDOR increasing price? Their build cost went up, not the price. This would happened irregardless of tariffs, and is expected.

                    I guess if you ignore details they specify, you could take that from their comment.

                    But again, person is just bitching for the sake of bitching, the provided details show they either don’t understand how the system work, or just bitching.

                    They want to applauded for doing what they agreed to, it’s bloody laughable. As a small business owner myself it’s attitudes like this that make the rest look bad.