O’Leary Warns of $175 Billion Refund Crisis After Supreme Court Tariff Ruling
Investor and “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary blasted the Supreme Court’s Friday ruling that President Donald Trump exceeded his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in issuing broad emergency tariffs.
O’Leary labeled the 6-3 decision a “nightmare” and asserted the high court “created a mess” by declaring the IEEPA does not authorize presidents to impose broad-based tariffs, marking a major rebuke of Trump’s use of emergency powers to reshape U.S. trade policy.
In an interview with CNN’s “The Arena with Kasie Hunt,” O’Leary stated: “There’s nothing wrong with reciprocal tariffs. If a country adds a 10% [value added tax]—and we don’t call it a VAT tax in the U.S., we’ll just do a 10% tariff. There’s nothing wrong with that. That’s the stable tariff negotiation that’s gone on forever.”
He added: “But you’ve got situations where punitive tariffs were used during this period the Supreme Court looked at and ruled on this morning, and said no—you can’t do that, that’s a tax. And Congress wasn’t consulted.”
O’Leary warned American companies might now pursue refunds for roughly $150 billion in tariffs already paid to the federal government to comply with the ruling. Some economists suggest the total exposure could exceed $175 billion. “No one ever thinks about the small business guy,” he said.
“When does he sit in this now?” O’Leary asked. “He has to somehow get this $150 billion back from Treasury and distribute it to those who paid it—or he won’t be compliant.”
“I wish the Supreme Court had called me before they ruled on this because I would have said, wait a second—this isn’t going to help the people that employ half the people in America,” O’Leary added. “This is not going to be easy. This is an additional cost on us. This is a major compliance cost.”
O’Leary revealed he will seek guidance at the State of the Union address on Tuesday, noting his head “is getting squeezed from the top and the bottom to be compliant.” He also confirmed setting up a resource called wondertrust.com to hire hundreds or thousands of accountants and lawyers to assist businesses navigating the fallout.
“Everybody wants their money back,” he said. “It’s not a great afternoon for me.”
