Democrats wage populist fight to refund tariffs to US households

WASHINGTON – Prominent Democrats are seizing on US President

Donald Trump’s Supreme Court tariff loss

to launch a populist election-year campaign to refund the overturned import duties to the US public.

“I’m calling for a US$1,336 (S$1,700) refund for every Ohio household,” progressive Democrat Sherrod Brown said in a social media post on Feb 23.

Mr Brown, who is seeking a return to the Senate after a 2024 defeat, portrayed the duties as driving inflation and blamed his opponent, Republican Senator Jon Husted.

“Jon Husted supported them at every turn,” Mr Brown wrote. “Ohioans are being crushed by soaring prices, and they deserve their money back.”

Senator Bernie Moreno, who defeated Mr Brown in 2024, criticised him for opposing tariffs after supporting them in previous decades.

“The Democrats used to be the party of tariffs because the Democrats used to be the party of the working class,” Mr Moreno told reporters at the Capitol. 

Mr Moreno is pushing for Congress to codify higher tariffs and use the revenue to pay for other priorities, like making tax breaks for the middle class permanent.

It is unlikely such legislation will make its way through Congress in 2026.

Democrats clearly see an opening, with Mr Trump acting to launch

a new 15 per cent global tariff

to replace the tariffs the Supreme Court struck down, and telling reporters that any refunds are likely to be delayed in the courts for years.

Some of the party’s most visible political figures have taken up the fight.

“Donald Trump stole your money with his illegal tariffs – and you paid higher prices on everything from housing to groceries,” Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren posted. “It’s time for Trump to pay up and give back your money.”

Democratic governors have also been demanding refund cheques, with potential 2028 presidential candidates Gavin Newsom of California and J.B. Pritzker of Illinois demanding US$1,700 or more back per household.

“Every dollar unlawfully taken must be refunded immediately – with interest,” Mr Newsom wrote. “Cough up!”

Mr Pritzker, meanwhile, sent Mr Trump an invoice for US$8.6 billion, or US$1,700 per family in his state.

The idea of channelling at least a portion of tariff revenue back to US households is a populist cause that Mr Trump himself has previously championed.

The President pushed for tariff “dividend” cheques of US$2,000 per person in low and moderate-income families for months, but Republican leaders in Congress have given the idea a frosty reception.

Top Senate Democrats, meanwhile, announced legislation on the afternoon of Feb 23 to require full refunds, with interest, of what they estimated to be US$175 billion collected through Trump-ordered tariffs that the Supreme Court struck down.

That legislation calls on businesses that are refunded import duties to pass the money on to customers but does not require them to do so.

The Ohio Senate race is sure to top hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign spending and is key to Democratic efforts to retake control of Congress. Tariffs are also likely to play major roles in other battleground Senate races, including in Maine, Alaska and Iowa.

Mr Husted, the incumbent Ohio Republican senator, did not say what should happen to the disputed tariff revenue in a statement he issued on Feb 20 after the court ruling. 

“Today, the Supreme Court has spoken. In America, we respect the rule of law even when we disagree with it,” Mr Husted posted on social media.

Mr Husted voted against several efforts in the Senate to repeal Mr Trump’s tariffs.

While importers are already preparing for battles in the courts to recover the billions they paid, the odds of action in Congress seem slim.

“I don’t see a pathway in Congress for there to be refunds,” House Ways and Means chairman Jason Smith told Bloomberg Television on Feb. 23.

Mr Trump’s dividend proposal prompted concern in 2025 from watchdog groups like the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which warned it could cost hundreds of billions of dollars a year at a time when annual deficits are already approaching US$2 trillion. BLOOMBERG