New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday urged the federal government to return $13.5 billion in duties collected under the tariffs that the U.S. Supreme Court recently invalidated. The action follows the court ruling that struck down the tariff program implemented last year by President Donald Trump after his return to the White House.
Those tariffs, which were applied at varying rates to imports from most countries, were publicly celebrated by the president as "Liberation Day." The policy prompted legal challenges from businesses and a number of U.S. states during the period it was in effect.
Hochul highlighted the cost burden the levies placed on households and small enterprises in New York, saying the average household in the state incurred an additional $1,751 in expenses over the past year because of the tariffs. She also said the measures harmed small businesses and farmers across the state.
"These senseless and illegal tariffs were just a tax on New York consumers, small businesses and farmers, and that’s why I’m demanding a full refund"
Hochul's call for repayment joins similar appeals from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and California Governor Gavin Newsom, who last week asked the Republican president to issue refunds after the Supreme Court decision. All three governors are noted as Democratic figures viewed as potential contenders for the 2028 presidential election.
The White House pushed back on those requests. White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement that "President Trump used tariffs to actually deliver where Democrats could only talk, so naturally Democrats are resorting to gathering more meaningless popcorn headlines - pathetic but unsurprising."
Estimates from the Penn Wharton Budget Model put more than $175 billion of U.S. tariff collections at risk of being refunded. On the procedural side, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has indicated that the matter of refunds will be resolved through the lower courts.
The demand for $13.5 billion in refunds and the broader legal and political fallout underscore an unresolved process: how and when any refunds would be administered, and which collections ultimately qualify. For now, state leaders are using the Supreme Court ruling to press for repayments while federal officials point to pending judicial proceedings to determine the outcome.