Wilbur Ross was Trump’s first-term tariff hawk. Now he says refunds give importers ‘an extra profit’ and pay them ‘more than the money’ they laid out

Wilbur Ross, former U.S. Commerce Secretary under Trump’s first term, criticizes how the president is using tariffs in his second term. The Supreme Court invalidated certain tariffs, leaving the government owing importers approximately $166 billion in refunds. Ross notes that American households bore about 90% of the costs of Trump’s second-term tariffs. He takes issue with importers who passed on some costs to customers now receiving refunds, which he says allows them to pocket extra profit. Amazon received roughly $640 million in refunds in the second quarter but plans to reimburse only a limited number of customers, a move Ross calls conceptually flawed.

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