Sen. Angus King has cosponsored a bill alongside several Democratic lawmakers requiring the federal government to return the revenue generated from President Donald Trump’s (R) tariffs, which were recently struck down by the United States Supreme Court.
According to the majority of the Court, the federal law upon which President Trump relied to enact these policies does not permit the President to impose tariffs.
Authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, the opinion explains that the Trump Administration’s view of the law “would represent a transformative expansion of the President’s authority over tariff policy.”
“The Framers did not vest any part of the taxing power in the Executive Branch,” wrote Chief Justice Roberts.
It was not addressed by the Court whether or not companies may get refunded for the tariffs they have already paid.
[RELATED: Supreme Court Blocks President Trump’s Tariffs]
The bill cosponsored by Sen. King, titled the Tariff Refund Act of 2026, would mandate that the federal government return the revenue collected from these tariffs to importers.
All refunds would need to be processed within 180 days of the bill’s enactment. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) would be directed to prioritize small businesses when processing these refunds.
“Over the last year, American businesses or consumers paid $134 billion to cover the Trump administration’s costly, complicated, and unconstitutional tariffs,” said King in a press release shared Tuesday.
“Now that the policy has been thrown out by a 6-3 Supreme Court decision, Americans – including the thousands of small businesses and Maine people who footed the bill for this policy – deserve their money back,” said King.
“In response to the Supreme Court’s decision deeming the tariffs unconstitutional, it’s time to return the excess revenue to the folks who bore the burden,” he said. “The Tariff Refund Act of 2026 would help alleviate the higher costs and prices caused by the illegal tariffs over the past year and, in turn, reinstate the taxing authority back to Congress, as Article One, Section Eight of the Constitution clearly states.”
Click Here to Read Sen. King’s Full Statement
In a statement released immediately following the Supreme Court’s ruling last week, King referred to the decision as a “civics lesson for both the President and the Congress.”
“The United States is a constitutional republic, and in Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 of our Constitution it clearly states that: ‘[The Congress shall have Power . . . ] to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes,’” he explained.
“The Supreme Court maintains the constitutional guardrails preventing overreach from the other two branches of the federal government,” continued Sen. King. “This is the core definition of checks and balances.”
“Congress has a clear role to play in terms of shaping American life, safety, and economic policy as it seeks to look after the citizens it represents,” King said.
[RELATED: Maine’s Congressional Delegation Responds to SCOTUS Block on Trump Tariffs]
Sen. Susan Collins similarly focused on the balance of powers in her response to the ruling, while Maine’s two representatives opted to address the issue of tariffs more directly.
Rep. Jared Golden (D) took the opportunity to express his support for the imposition of global baseline tariffs, pointing toward his own legislation on the matter. Rep. Chellie Pingree (D) issued a scathing critique of the President’s tariff policies, calling them “chaotic” and a “clear case of executive overreach.”
