A Costco member in Illinois wants the wholesale club’s legendary refund policy to extend to Trump’s illegal tariffs.
Lawyers for Matthew Stockov filed a complaint in federal court on Wednesday seeking repayment for his share of any tariff refunds that Costco receives from its own lawsuit against US Customs and Border Protection.
“Costco is poised to be paid twice for the same unlawful tariff burden,” the filing says, referring to President Donald Trump’s tariffs that were struck down last month by the Supreme Court and the US Court of International Trade’s subsequent ruling that importers of record are due refunds.
Multiple studies have found that US consumers have ultimately borne the brunt of Trump’s tariffs through higher retail prices.
At issue in the Costco member’s suit is the concept of “double recovery,” which means Costco could ultimately recover money from both the government and its customers for the same expenses.
Costco did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Stockov, in the complaint, says he paid higher prices on tariffed items, including electronics, small appliances, household goods, food, and health and hygiene products.
The suit comes less than a week after Costco CEO Ron Vachris pledged to pass along any refunds the company receives via “lower prices and better values” for members.
Vachris also said on the earnings call that the multi-layered nature of certain tariffs, along with the company’s efforts to mitigate them, makes tracing the item-level impact especially challenging.
That’s not satisfying to Stockov and other members in his situation, the suit says.
“Returning value ‘through lower prices’ to an indeterminate group of future shoppers is not restitution,” it said. “It is a commitment to benefit future purchasers at the expense of past ones.”
FedEx is facing a similar lawsuit from customers seeking their share of any funds the shipping giant receives from its own refund case.
In most cases, those tariff charges have been separately itemized for each parcel, and the company said it intends to issue refunds pending “future guidance from the government and the court.”
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