Supreme Court voids IEEPA tariffs, up to $175 billion tied up in refunds
Feb 24th 2026
The high court ruled the president could not use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose broad global tariffs, sending roughly $165 billion to $175 billion in collections into litigation and prompting the administration to shift to other legal authorities.
- Supreme Court ruled the White House could not use IEEPA to levy sweeping global tariffs.
- Penn Wharton estimates up to $175 billion in IEEPA collections are now subject to refund litigation.
- IEEPA collections reached about $164.7 billion by January 2026 and were running near $500 million per day.
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said litigation could drag on for weeks, months, or years and that consumers are unlikely to see refunds.
- The administration plans to rely short term on Section 122 for a temporary 15% tariff and may use Sections 232 and 301 for longer term duties.
- Analysts say any refunds would go to U.S. importers and are unlikely to be passed quickly to consumers, limiting immediate price relief.
- Without IEEPA tariffs the average effective tariff rate is expected to fall to about 9.1% versus 16.9% with the IEEPA measures, according to Yale Budget Lab.