There’s a $500 million windfall General Motors is expecting to help boost its first quarter earnings. The catch? It’s a refund for tariff payments it made to the Trump administration—and it doesn’t come anywhere close to the billions it still has to pay.
When the Supreme Court in February struck down tariffs the Trump administration imposed last year by citing the International Emergency Economic Powers Act—which gives the president broad economic powers after declaring a national emergency—it didn’t tell the White House how it should go about issuing refunds. The court’s ruling invalidated several key tariffs President Donald Trump had imposed since he retook office last year including the “reciprocal tariffs” imposed on many countries during the president’s “Liberation Day” event more than a year ago.
In total, $166 billion in payments are eligible for refunds.
GM said Tuesday it will receive half a billion of those eligible payments as part of its tariff refund—merely a fraction of what it had paid overall. Last year, the company reported $3.1 billion in tariff-related costs.
Because of the Supreme Court ruling, GM said Tuesday it expected to pay import duties between $2.5 billion and $3.5 billion for the coming year, down from the $3 billion to $4 billion it previously expected to pay.
