Amazon taken to court over Trump Tariff refunds; lawsuit says: Problem is that funds Amazon is using are ...

Amazon has reportedly not asked the Trump government to refund that US Supreme Court allowed companies to take. Earlier this year, after the Supreme Court struck down Trump tariffs, the federal government set up a method to reimburse those who had paid them.

Consumers in a proposed class action, filed in federal court in Seattle alleged that Amazon collected hundreds of millions of dollars in unlawful tariff costs by raising prices on imported goods before the Supreme Court had ruled. The suit charges Amazon with violation of the Washington Consumer Protection Act and unjust enrichment.Although many big brands sought tariff reimbursements, Amazon is reported to have held back from filing claims.

The complaint was filed by two consumers, Lisa Markland of Maryland and Mari Cartagenova of Massachusetts, and covers purchases made between February 4, 2025 and February 20, 2026. The plaintiffs allege that Amazon, acting as importer of record for goods sold through its online store, embedded IEEPA tariff costs in consumer prices rather than absorbing them internally.

Following the Supreme Court's decision, the Court of International Trade confirmed on March 4, 2026 that the right to reclaim those duties from the federal government rests solely with importers of record.

Consumers cannot file directly.

What the lawsuit against Amazon claims

The suit alleges Amazon has chosen not to pursue that recovery. Lawyers behind this class-action suit believe they know why. "Amazon’s decision to forgo recovery serves its own political and commercial interests at the direct expense of the consumers who bore the tariff costs in the first place," the plaintiffs wrote in the lawsuit. "It has, in short, generated and retained a windfall from unlawful government action, and consumers — not Amazon — are the ones left paying for it.

"“The problem is that the funds Amazon is using to stay in the President’s good graces do not belong to Amazon,” the lawsuit states. “These funds were wrongfully taken from consumers to cover IEEPA Tariffs that have since been invalidated.”In April 2025, Amazon announced that it would start displaying how much of a product’s cost came from tariffs, but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the move “a hostile and political act,” the suit notes.

Amazon abandoned that plan thereafter. President Trump too is reported to have called Amazon founder Jeff Bezos over the same.“Although the plan was never implemented, it demonstrates that Amazon can identify exactly how much of a product’s price was due to the IEEPA tariffs,” the suit says. “And it demonstrates that Amazon has the record-keeping ability to identify each consumer who paid a higher cost due to a Trump tariff.”Nearly 2,000 importers sought refunds after the Supreme Court’s decision. But the lawsuit says Amazon has listened to Trump’s promise to “remember” companies that don’t take part in the refund program.“Those funds belong to the consumers who paid them,” the suit says. “Amazon’s use of these funds to curry political favor does not make consumers whole and is not a legally cognizable substitute for the relief sought in this lawsuit.”