Businesses are vying for a refund, with nearly $175bn on the line, but customers are unlikely to benefit from reversal
At 8am, two hours before the US supreme court officially slapped down Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs on 20 February, Joseph Spraragen’s phone was already ringing off the hook.
The seasoned New York-based attorney and his 40-strong specialised trade team at Grunfeld, Desiderio, Lebowitz, Silverman & Klestadt (GDLSK) had spent months filing hundreds of lawsuits for heavy-hitter clients, including luxury brands Prada and Dolce & Gabbana, in protest of the US president’s decision to impose sweeping import taxes last April.
But that Friday’s ruling – deeming Trump’s tariffs illegal – opened the floodgates, sending hundreds of thousands of businesses across the US scrambling for advice on how to secure their share of an estimated $175bn (£129bn) tariff refund pot.
Already, FedEx, L’Oreal, Dyson and others have sued for refunds. Now clients are looking for trade lawyers at a rate unseen throughout Spraragen’s 30-year career. “It’s unprecedented,” he said.
And that wave, some experts say, will result in a mini-gold rush for a usually unglamorous corner of the US legal sector: delivering fees for trade lawyers, paydays for hedge funds buying up rights to businesses’ refunds and a cut for AI firms that are – inevitably – trying to get in on the action.
How any of that money ultimately filters through to American consumers, who shouldered tariff costs through widespread price hikes, remains to be seen.
“To me, the only winners from this trade war that Trump has launched, have been the lawyers,” said Jennifer Hillman, a law professor at Georgetown University, and former general counsel for the US trade representative office.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/28/trump-tariffs-refunds-law-firms
