Customers in a proposed class motion filed in federal court docket in Seattle alleged that the e-commerce large collected tons of of tens of millions of {dollars} in illegal tariff prices by elevating costs on imported items earlier than the Supreme Courtroom had dominated.
| Picture Credit score: Reuters
Amazon.com Inc was sued on Friday (Could 15, 2026) by shoppers searching for refunds for prices handed on to them within the type of larger costs because of tariffs the U.S. Supreme Courtroom later concluded had been unlawfully imposed by President Donald Trump.
Customers in a proposed class motion filed in federal court docket in Seattle alleged that the e-commerce large collected tons of of tens of millions of {dollars} in illegal tariff prices by elevating costs on imported items earlier than the Supreme Courtroom had dominated.
The U.S. Supreme Courtroom in February concluded in a 6-3 resolution that Mr. Trump overstepped his authority by utilizing the Worldwide Emergency Financial Powers Act to impose his sweeping tariffs.
Hundreds of firms have begun to hunt billions of {dollars} in refunds from the federal government following the ruling.
However Amazon has not, which the lawsuit alleged was “not as a result of it lacks a authorized foundation to take action, however as a result of it seeks to curry favour with Mr. Trump by permitting the federal authorities to retain the funds.”
“The issue is that the funds Amazon is utilizing to remain within the President’s good graces don’t belong to Amazon,” the lawsuit says. “These funds have been wrongfully taken from shoppers to cowl IEEPA Tariffs which have since been invalidated.”
The lawsuit asserts claims of unjust enrichment and violation of Washington state’s consumer-protection legislation.
Amazon did not reply to a request for remark.
The lawsuit follows a number of earlier circumstances filed by shoppers accusing firms starting from Costco to Nike to FedEx of failing to cross on tariff refunds to shoppers.
In contrast to firms that imported items, shoppers should not eligible to hunt tariff refunds from the federal government for the upper prices they incurred whereas they have been in impact, Friday’s (Could 15) lawsuit notes.
To help its declare that politics have been behind Amazon’s actions, the lawsuit notes that in April 2025, the corporate confronted White Home blowback after a report that it was contemplating displaying how a lot of a product’s value got here from the IEEPA tariffs.
Amazon denied the story and mentioned it by no means thought of itemizing tariff costs on its fundamental retail website. However the report prompted Mr. Trump to name Amazon Government Chairman Jeff Bezos to complain, the lawsuit says.
Printed – Could 16, 2026 07:36 am IST