A group of U.S. Senate Democrats introduced legislation in Washington on Monday that would require the Donald Trump administration to refund up to roughly 175 billion dollars collected through tariffs that were ruled invalid by the Supreme Court.
According to a press release from the office of Korean American New Jersey Senator Andy Kim, the bill, co-sponsored by 22 Democratic senators, including Kim, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer(New York), Ron Wyden(Oregon) and Jeanne Shaheen(New Hampshire), calls for the administration to pay refunds of all “unlawfully collected duties,” including interest, within 180 days after enactment.
Kim said the administration took upwards of 17-hundred dollars, or about two-point-five million won, from the pockets of every American family and that the money should be returned.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week that President Trump’s widespread "reciprocal" tariffs as well as the fentanyl-related tariffs that were imposed on China, Canada and Mexico were illegal.
In the wake of the ruling, Democratic politicians are pushing legislation to make the administration issue refunds to American families, small businesses and manufacturers that suffered from the tariff policies.
However, the bill is not expected to pass easily with the Republican Party currently in the majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.