While the Supreme Court ruling Friday striking down President Donald Trump’s far-reaching global tariffs is seen as a good thing for small businesses in Colorado, it is too soon to know whether the extra import fees they paid last year will be refunded.
“It’s all a little murky,” Gail Ross, chief operating officer at outdoor clothing company Krimson Klover in Boulder, said in an email. “There is no good reason that we wouldn’t see a refund,” though it could take years and isn’t a sure thing, she added.
Krimson Klover joined a group of small businesses nationwide called We Pay The Tariffs, speaking out against the high fees. On Friday, the company put its name on a letter sent to Trump and Congress to refund the extra tariff payments.
The small business coalition released a report this week showing that businesses paid $223 billion more in tariffs on U.S. imports from March to December. That included $1.1 billion from Colorado companies.
“Our big next priority is refunds,” Matt McAlvanah, a coalition spokesman, said in an email. “We have launched a national sign on letter led by the hundreds of businesses we already have on board calling for ‘Full, Fast and Automatic’ refunds.”
The 6-3 Supreme Court decision centers on tariffs imposed under an emergency powers law, including the sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs Trump levied on nearly every other country.
It’s the first major piece of Trump’s broad agenda to come squarely before the nation’s highest court, which he helped shape with the appointments of three conservative jurists in his first term.
The majority found that the Constitution “very clearly” gives Congress the power to impose taxes, which include tariffs. “The Framers did not vest any part of the taxing power in the Executive Branch,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote.
Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh dissented.
“The tariffs at issue here may or may not be wise policy. But as a matter of text, history, and precedent, they are clearly lawful,” Kavanaugh wrote in the dissent.
After the decision came out, Trump said he’ll impose a new 10% tariff as an alternative. The new tariffs would come under a law that restricts them to 150 days.
Threats like that are not helping, said Glenda Mostek, executive director of the Colorado Nursery and Greenhouse Association. Farmers already face a lot of unpredictability with weather, livestock and crop yields so that they don’t need the instability of retaliatory tariffs.
“This just adds further chaos to farmers making planting decisions for this spring, with additional uncertainty around refunds, government bridge payments which are supposed to be funded by the tariffs, and the President’s vow to continue the tariffs in a different manner,” Mostek said in an email.
Colorado Chamber of Commerce officials called the court’s decision “a good thing” for its small business members. “We’re hopeful that this decision will bring stability to the market and reduce costs across the board for Colorado employers and families at a time when our state is already one of the most expensive places to live and do business,” said President and CEO Loren Furman in a statement.
The Constitution gives Congress the power to levy tariffs. But the Trump administration argued that a 1977 law allowing the president to regulate importation during emergencies also allows him to set tariffs. Other presidents have used the law dozens of times, often to impose sanctions, but Trump was the first president to invoke it for import taxes.
Colorado Rep. Jeff Hurd, a Republican who represents the 3rd Congressional District, said in a statement that the ruling underscores Congress’ role in applying tariffs.
“Article I assigns Congress the authority to regulate commerce with foreign nations and to impose tariffs. Major trade decisions should rest on clear statutory authority, not expansive emergency interpretations,” Hurd said. “If tariffs are necessary, Congress should debate them and vote on them directly. That is how our constitutional system is designed to function.”
Trump set what he called “reciprocal” tariffs on most countries in April to address trade deficits that he declared a national emergency. Those came after he imposed duties on Canada, China and Mexico, ostensibly to address a drug trafficking emergency.
Small businesses in Colorado scrambled last spring to adjust orders, reroute manufacturing and find cash to pay the higher fees on goods already ordered from countries like China that bore the highest reciprocal tariff rates. But contributing to the economic pain was the ups and downs of the tariffs, which were raised if a country raised their own, or Trump agreed to delay or lower them.
“I literally had planned in terms of the cost and cost to my customers, I had a Plan A, B, C, D, E and F by the time we decided OK, we’re just going to take a guess and go with it,” said Ross, with Krimson Klover. “We paid a lot more in tariffs than we’ve ever had to pay before.”
As the year’s trade continued, a series of lawsuits followed, including a case from a dozen largely Democratic-leaning states and others from small businesses selling everything from plumbing supplies to educational toys to women’s cycling apparel.
Broomfield shoe company Crocs sued the Trump administration in December, seeking a $54 million refund on the tariffs it paid.
When reached Friday morning, Crocs spokesperson Melissa Layton said, “At this time we are still monitoring the court’s ruling very closely and are not currently commenting on the decision.”
Last year, Colorado joined a multistate federal lawsuit to stop the tariffs, and limit presidential powers on tariffs.
“By blocking these sweeping tariffs, the Court has helped create certainty for America’s trade partners, restored stability to our economy and protected Americans from hundreds of billions of dollars in increased costs,” Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement Friday. “Our economy will grow more and we will all prosper from this decision. We will always stand up for Coloradans, economic growth, and policies that help working families get ahead rather than make everyday life more expensive.”
The tariffs decision doesn’t stop Trump from imposing duties under other laws. While those have more limitations on the speed and severity of Trump’s actions, top administration officials have said they expect to keep the tariff framework in place under other authorities.
The Supreme Court ruling comes despite a series of short-term wins on the court’s emergency docket that have allowed Trump to push ahead with extraordinary flexes of executive power on issues ranging from high-profile firings to major federal funding cuts.
Even with all the trade chaos, Colorado’s import values fell 2% last year from a year earlier to $16.4 billion, according to the latest census data on trade. Exports grew 4.3%. But trade with China, one of the state’s largest trade partners, had a much bigger impact with imports falling 26.7% and exports down 14.9%.
“President Trump’s ever-changing tariffs create economic chaos and jack up prices while many Coloradans stretch to meet their budgets, so today’s court decision is a victory and will provide relief for the American people,” said Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, who has challenged the administration in 54 lawsuits. “We recognize that this administration is likely to continue to act in defiance of the law. During oral argument in this case, for example, the government’s lawyers told the court that a loss would not stop the president from imposing tariffs under other federal laws.”
The economic impact of Trump’s tariffs has been estimated at some $3 trillion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The Treasury has collected more than $133 billion from the import taxes the president has imposed under the emergency powers law, federal data from December shows. Many companies, including the big-box warehouse chain Costco, have already lined up in court to demand refunds.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.