Refunded freight companies are in the process of passing along money to their customers who indirectly paid tariffs when they purchased items from foreign vendors.
FedEx, DHL, Amazon and UPS are among the shippers that received millions in tariff refunds from the U.S. government on imported packages for which they acted as customs brokers.
The refunds are a result of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on February 20 that nullified the tariffs President Donald Trump imposed in March 2025.
A system implemented by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is distributing some $100 billion in refunded tariffs to the haulers that paid them.
Carriers have said they’ll distribute the refunds to customers on an ongoing basis as they receive them from the government, depending on the date the tariffs were paid.
“The volume and pace of refunds continue to depend on CBP’s processing of claims,” DHL said in a statement.
For example, FedEx is issuing $800 million in tariff refunds it received from the government back to the customers that paid them.
In April, UPS said it had begun the first phase of reclaiming $5 billion paid in tariffs and that customers can expect to receive refunds within three months of UPS receiving Treasury reimbursement for refunds requested.
DHL said that it had also applied for refunds on eligible shipments in which it served as the importer.
Trump levied tariffs on almost every country by invoking the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act; however, the nation’s highest court ordered that the tariffs collected be returned.
The Tax Foundation, a non-partisan Washington, D.C.-based tax policy think tank, estimates the 2025 tariffs caused an average tax increase of $1,000 per U.S. household.
Customers across the country have filed lawsuits against Costco and other retailers, including Nike, Amazon, and Walmart, to reclaim the tariffs they paid in the form of higher prices.
Amazon received $600 million in tariff refunds between April and June, according to a July 30 earnings call; however, CFO Brian Olsavsky said customer refunds are limited due to the company or third-party sellers absorbing most of the tariff increases rather than passing them on to shoppers.
Third-party sellers account for more than 60 percent of items sold on Amazon, according to public company disclosures.
"[We have] identified a limited set of circumstances where we can trace that we pass specific import charges on to customers," Olsavsky said. "We will proactively contact affected customers and automatically issue refunds to them."
Costco plans to return the collected tariffs that were passed on to consumers, according to Costco CEO Ron Vachris.
“How much we return and when depends on a variety of factors, including how much refund money we receive and when it arrives as well as developments in the lawsuit filed against the company regarding the return process,” Vachris said in a May 2026 earnings call.
Attorney Lori Leskin said the lawsuits against retailers face an uphill battle because plaintiffs are expected to prove they paid for price increases that were exclusively linked to the tariffs.
Leskin is a partner and co-chair of law firm Arnold & Porter’s Consumer Products Practice Group.