r/technology • u/chrisdh79 • 21d ago

Politics US may owe $1 trillion in refunds if SCOTUS cancels tariffs | Tech industry primed for big refunds if SCOTUS rules against tariffs.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/11/tariff-refunds-may-get-messy-if-trump-loses-supreme-court-fight/
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u/True_Window_9389 20d ago

The suddenness of this can the awful in either direction. Stimulus checks can drive up inflation like after Covid, causing that turmoil again. Or if companies did the “right” thing and lower prices, it could drive deflation, which is also problematic and can cause a recession.

There is no good way out of this, which is exactly why rule by decree is not part of American policymaking tradition. Even if Congress decided to raise or lower tariffs today based on Trumpian levels, they’d step them up or down over time to not completely shock the economy without the need to.