Businesses are getting tariff refunds. Why aren't consumers getting their cut?

Although the government is refunding many tariffs, most of the money is going to businesses and importers — not consumers. Elise Amendola/AP hide caption

Last year, Sandra Alonso needed a new powered wheelchair to get around her city of Tampa, Fla., after wearing out her old one.

So she ordered the same model because she knew she could easily fold it and lift it without anyone's help.

Unfortunately for Alonso, the chair is made in China, and when she bought it last year, tariffs on Chinese goods were a sky-high 145%. She paid an extra $3,500.

"There's no reason I had to pay double for this chair," Alonso said. "The federal government should give me my money back."

Alonso thought she should get the refund after the Supreme Court in February ruled that many of President Trump's tariffs were illegal , leading to the federal government having to refund more than $160 billion that it had collected.

The thing, however, is that the federal government can't give her that money back. That's because it is instead returning the cash to the importers that directly paid those tariff fees, typically American businesses.

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