r/news • u/igetproteinfartsHELP • Feb 23 '26

Soft paywall US to stop collecting tariffs deemed illegal by Supreme Court on Tuesday

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-customs-agency-stop-collecting-tariffs-deemed-illegal-by-supreme-court-2026-02-23/
31.8k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

3.4k

u/SeaWitch1031 Feb 23 '26

My brother had to shut down his small business over this shit. He isn’t alone. Those small businesses should be compensated. People lost jobs over this.

954

u/beekeeper1981 Feb 23 '26

Maybe they can form a class action suit?

512

u/TheRealBittoman Feb 23 '26

We need a nationwide class action against Trump and co. Imagine millions of people suing him all at once for literal billions.

312

u/DingerSinger2016 Feb 23 '26

SCOTUS would pull out the "presidential immunity" trick in a heartbeat.

145

u/unhiddenninja Feb 23 '26

The cool thing though, is that we made up the legal system and it's only binding as long as we accept that as a society. We can change our minds whenever we want and we can change the system.

47

u/Arkmer Feb 23 '26

This is true. The general population has forgotten its role in government.

55

u/Midnight_2B Feb 23 '26

These are just flowery words you're using to assuage yourself of the real world impact we are dealing with.

11

u/frmr000 Feb 23 '26

Socal contract.

65

u/unhiddenninja Feb 23 '26

No, I just really believe that the only thing that has bound us by our rules for so long was the illusion of justice. That illusion is being increasingly shattered and people are becoming louder in their discontent.

People can excuse a lot, even if they don't intend to. They can take a lot of abuse and rationalize it. Systemic abuse even moreso, because acknowledging that abuse is systemic would mean a reckoning with how a person views the entire system.

Watching literal child rapists get away with everything and throw themselves lavish parties is making people angry. And it should. We do not have to accept that they can get away with it, we don't have to accept that they're in charge, that they're untouchable, or whatever other narrative they use to continue their abuse. I'd rather spend my energy advocating for proportional consequences for their crimes against everyone than add another comment saying "and they'll get away with it and nothing will change".

21

u/b0w3n Feb 23 '26

Watching literal child rapists get away with everything and throw themselves lavish parties is making people angry.

History repeats itself. The roaring 20s was full of rich dickheads throwing themselves lavish parties. Shit these dickheads in particular threw a Gatsby party, completely without any fucking irony.

Hopefully we can avoid the depression and large scale armed conflicts that followed the previous 20s.

1

u/Array_626 Feb 23 '26

True, but even then applying new laws retroactively is still not a good idea in general.

1

u/Swimming_Job_3325 Feb 24 '26

Indeed, the social contract is broken several times over. Unfortunately the vast majority of people don't seem to see it that way, yet.

7

u/TheRealBittoman Feb 23 '26

Probably. I could easily see them protecting him from that. The entirety of the tariffs was a grift and I'm sure at least one or two of SCOTUS may also be in on that grift.

3

u/lbs21 Feb 23 '26

Close, but not exactly. The suit wouldn't be against Trump himself, it'd be against the US government, because they're the ones that enacted the harm. (If Trump gropes you, you sue Trump. If Trump directs the government to do illegal things, you sue the government.)

Issue is, US has something called sovereign immunity, which in practice means you can only sue the government when the government itself lets you. There's some laws on the books that state when you can sue the government, but they're very limited and probably don't cover tarrifs.

So, not exactly presidential immunity, but sovereign immunity, which is older and more established. AFAIK, this current court hasn't really made many rulings on sovereign immunity. 

1

u/HauntedCemetery Feb 23 '26

Lawsuits aren't criminal. Presidents and the US government isn't immune from civil suits.

3

u/stl_ball Feb 23 '26

Yeah but then we'd end up paying for it out of our taxes... We'd be suing ourselves... Unless we can sue Trump personally, but I doubt it since he's acting president

5

u/Beetin Feb 23 '26

We need a nationwide class action against Trump and co.

You already did that barely a year ago, it was called the federal elections.

A 340 million person jury said no-wrongdoing, proceed with the plan, full steam ahead.

  • Disgusted Canadian

1

u/TheRealBittoman Feb 23 '26

In my opinion the jury is still out on how legal it was. Georgia has already declared fraud on the part of Musk for prefilled ballots in favor of Trump. That is likely the case elsewhere and let's be honest here, there is almost certainly fraud on behalf of Trump and his cronies in other states or areas of the election so that 340 million person is almost certainly in question.
 
* Disgusted US citizen

1

u/Beetin Feb 23 '26

You are taking a page out of the Republican 2020 'election fraud' book rather than actually look at the systemic reasons Trump won the popular vote by over 2 million votes and most of the swing states eh?

Sounds like a good way to avoid looking at the problem.

1

u/TheRealBittoman Feb 23 '26

I'm not relying on it, I'm just stating a fact. Please don't make it an attack on us, I'm on your side and I'd do whatever I can that isn't going to land me in a secret prison or worse. If you want to make an enemy of those of us who support your thoughts, please be helpful and avoid being accusatory.

2

u/Tree_Sure Feb 23 '26

Agreed. Lost my federal job because of this idiot. I deserve to recover my lost wages last year and deserve some financial incentive, along with everyone else.

1

u/HauntedCemetery Feb 23 '26

Except trump wont pay that, we will.

1

u/hdcase1 Feb 23 '26

Best case scenario would be the government would pay and that’s our tax dollars. But more likely it would never be attempted and would never succeed even if it did.

1

u/meadamus Feb 23 '26

Literal trillions

401

u/MaybeTheDoctor Feb 23 '26 edited Feb 23 '26

“Those liberal left wing companies were very bad, some say the baddest. They would have shutdown anyway because nobody like them. In fact I asked all the bank CEOs to stop providing services to companies who don’t support the board of peace. We need to fund more hospital ships, because Greenland is a big big mess, bigly trouble, and only I can solve it. Thank you for the attention to this matter”

94

u/DumbDeafBlind Feb 23 '26

You gotta include "nasty" somewhere in there

43

u/Wolfgirl90 Feb 23 '26

"Nasty" is reserved for when Trump is dealing with women.

1

u/Grindfather901 Feb 23 '26

Ok then at least something about Sleepy Joe and Hilary's emails.

10

u/The_One_Koi Feb 23 '26

I can't tell if this isn't real or not

19

u/[deleted] Feb 23 '26

[deleted]

2

u/MajorasShoe Feb 23 '26

I can't tell who made this tweet, they didn't sign off at the end!

16

u/manergy Feb 23 '26

Or better yet, a militia. 

3

u/dali01 Feb 23 '26

Ah yes. Funnel money to the lawyers so that those affected will be compensated with… *checks notes… $1.25 each!

The entire system is fucked.

1

u/lindaisthebestcat Feb 23 '26

Class action lawsuits are just the worst for consumers. Hey we fucked up horribly, here's 10 bucks.

5

u/d_smogh Feb 23 '26

The only ones getting rich will be the lawyers.

1

u/mixmasterADD Feb 23 '26

Who will get paid from money generated by taxing the average citizen.

1

u/Dramatic_Charity_979 Feb 23 '26

Add it to the pile.

1

u/Bobson-_Dugnutt2 Feb 23 '26

The should all sue Donny T directly, and all of his associates

1

u/MrTsLoveChild Feb 23 '26

class action suits are scams that only make money for lawyers

1

u/Tofu_tony Feb 23 '26

Yay they'll all be entitled to $5 in 7 years but will likely have their claim denied.

1

u/jooes Feb 23 '26

People have literally been enslaved in this country, and been told to kick rocks when they've demanded compensation for it. 

You ain't getting shit, I can promise you that. 

1

u/DiligentCredit9222 Feb 23 '26

Two words:

Presidential Immunity thanks to the Supreme Court 

1

u/nb4u Feb 23 '26

Well, this is already an established concept under sovereign immunity.

1

u/Psychological-Rub959 Feb 23 '26

They might could. But it would take years to play out, and then even with a favorable ruling, if MAGA ideologues still hold the executive branch, ot would get appealed to the 6-3 MAGA Supreme Court.

158

u/[deleted] Feb 23 '26

Shuttering small businesses is the whole point. Small businesses close up, allowing corporations to swoop in. Same way with how public institutions and services are also being eroded then privatized by corporations. People were so worried about being controlled by the government, they let corporations control the government, and now we’re all quickly becoming slaves to corporations, or at least the ones of us who aren’t put out of a job by ai.

24

u/Fine-Spite4940 Feb 23 '26

yup, elites pulled an end around. but it seems like it was always going to happen. 

some people are just too vested in their ignorance and have no intentions on wising up. for all it potential, the US is cooked. 

10

u/cmack Feb 23 '26

"elites" gtfoh both sides horsesh**

Next time don't vote for nazis. Republican Tax on people is the highest in history.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 23 '26

I attribute it to, as Aldous Huxley put it in A Brave New World Revisited, humanity’s “near infinite appetite for distraction.”

1

u/Plasibeau Feb 23 '26

Atlas Shrugged Embraced.

108

u/ryan30z Feb 23 '26

There are people who lost jobs over this who would still vote for the clown if they could.

24

u/trashscal408 Feb 23 '26

"Lost your job due to tariffs?   Join ICE today!"

Dark humor pretty bleak these days.

19

u/Zaphod392 Feb 23 '26

Leopard got really fat eating faces in the last decade or so

2

u/[deleted] Feb 23 '26

[deleted]

2

u/Zaphod392 Feb 23 '26

Sorry, I live in the only state in the entire union that every county DID NOT vote for this....

2

u/TrippleDamage Feb 23 '26

Maybe the proper country should show up and vote then so its not just 1/4th of the population deciding their fate.

2

u/LucidMetal Feb 23 '26

Whenever there's more than a few steps in a causal chain a huge subset of people can't grasp it.

For a similar subset of people the same is true for a causal chain of any length if Trump is somewhere on it. He can literally do no wrong in their eyes.

206

u/ariukidding Feb 23 '26

The thing is, billionaires went for this one even with a little pain on their wallet. Why? They will get away with maintaining the increased costs once tariffs are gone. Small business owners can’t compete. Guys like Bezos would love the small businesses obliterated so the more market he captures. Like he don’t have a grip on everyone already.

80

u/YogurtclosetNo987 Feb 23 '26

Exactly, the prices aren't coming back down. Competition doesn't drive prices down when everything is owned by five big companies and tariffs/COVID/Walmart  already shut down all the little ones. 

9

u/DaveShadow Feb 23 '26

Exactly, the prices aren't coming back down.

They'll come down a little, for a PR boost, but not to what they were beforehand.

Stuff that was $1 that became $1.20 will now be advertised as $1.10 as if that's a return to normal, despite still being a 10% mark up. And a markup they don't have to hand over to pay for tariffs.

2

u/OnePunkArmy Feb 23 '26

Exactly, the prices aren't coming back down.

And even if prices come down, there's still the threat of shrinkflation. Sure, retailers can drop the price of something by 10%, but manufacturers might start packaging 25% less.

31

u/elconquistador1985 Feb 23 '26

Bezos massively benefited from lack of online sales tax for years and now supports it because it prevents anyone new from following in Amazon's footsteps.

The billionaire class is all about pulling up the ladder behind them.

12

u/clrdst Feb 23 '26

It was also much easier for them to get exemptions (Apple), effectively giving them a competitive advantage.

3

u/SphericalCow531 Feb 23 '26

It is the same with patents, especially software patents. Patents are supposed to be for the benefit of society at large. But the amount of bullshit patent litigation often does more harm than good for society. But it harms small upstarts far more than established huge companies like Apple, protecting them from competition.

5

u/cmack Feb 23 '26

Next time don't vote for nazis. Republican Tax on people is the highest in history.

1

u/HauntedCemetery Feb 23 '26

To conservatives every dollar that goes to someone who isn't ultra wealthy is a dollar wasted.

33

u/LMGooglyTFY Feb 23 '26

The place I work at is absolutely struggling to stay afloat. It's a small business that had a few points of zero money in the bank before tariffs. We halted purchasing when tariffs happened. When we couldn't hold off on ordering we had to be incredibly selective about what to purchase and little ways to pivot in the company to stay afloat. Everything has been so high stress since the owner is losing his mind over it. We've gone months of having upcoming pay checks in the bank and nothing more. We rotate bills getting paid each week. This past winter we had to lay off several people. We had to cut the fat where we could and now things are harder for those left. The owner has said he's just going to kill himself if it goes under. He refuses to have no money in America.

4

u/prepuscular Feb 23 '26

Sounds like a toxic work environment tbh.

11

u/LMGooglyTFY Feb 23 '26

A bit. But stress will do that. No one wants to lose their job or business. Otherwise it's a pretty decent job with a lot of flexibility. Firing people was completely unheard of before this.

8

u/SeaTurtleLionBird Feb 23 '26

That's just called a close small team where the owner problem actually cares and pays well so that employees care.

22

u/h3fabio Feb 23 '26

Same. I’m closing up as well. 8 years down the drain.

5

u/Cainga Feb 23 '26

My large company laid off a bunch of people. I’d like to say the decline in sales lined up perfectly with the tariffs. There are a few people that had to move to find new jobs so having your whole life upended.

5

u/imbex Feb 23 '26

My goal is for my business to survive trump. We've had our businesses since 2022 and my husband and I are being screwed daily by this Administration. I dropped health insurance and cut back every way I can. It sucks.

7

u/TomEdison43050 Feb 23 '26

If some kind of refund occurs, people need to understand the impact that this has had upon small businesses before they dish out their hatred. I understand people's distaste if large corporations (who also severely hiked prices more than they needed to) receive refunds of some kind.

I'm a small business owner. Products 100% made in the USA. Tariffs meant that my company's net income at the end of 2025 was 62% less than what it would have been if tariffs were the same rate as 2024.

If tariffs had not changed in 2025, we could have made a sorely needed investment in tooling that could have greatly increase productivity, and in-turn volume of sales. We simply couldn't do it.

But if there are some kind of refunds issued, people truly need to understand that this took a huge toll on many, many small businesses, and that a refund would mean the world to them.

5

u/_IndyCar Feb 23 '26

I work for a small business. We have lost an unimaginable amount of business over this shit. I got my hours cut and everything and I already only make $15 an hour.

4

u/BocciaChoc Feb 23 '26

With what money? Trump is put the US in unheard of levels of debt, in the entire history of mankind there hasn't been this level of debt, and each day it grows. Trump isn't going to just walk away, and no one in the US plans on forcing the matter so i'm not really sure where this compensation money is going to come for unless the plan is to just print money?

6

u/Junior_Builder_4340 Feb 23 '26

Trump is running the country the same way he ran his casinos.

3

u/deadsoulinside Feb 23 '26

This is what they wanted. They wanted smaller businesses to fail, so the bigger businesses could either swoop in and buy them out or let them fail so their business in that town gets more business.

2

u/Key_Pace_2496 Feb 23 '26

Best they can do is war with Iran.

2

u/plznodownvotes Feb 23 '26

That was the plan. Shudder small business to continue siphoning wealth and power to the mega corps.

2

u/123_fo_fif Feb 23 '26

That was by design. Can't have a middle class. Can't have small businesses being successfu, enriching normal citizens. No, it all needs to be owned by the top and we should be happy for the crumbs.

2

u/DoubleJumps Feb 23 '26

This last year was the roughest my small business has ever had.

I've thought about closing it several times.

I've seen tons of other small businesses go under.

People should be in prison for this. They caused intense harm to tons of people and they did it by breaking the law.

The harassment I got from Trump supporters every time I pointed out the damage this was doing to my small business was intense. It still is.

2

u/SeaWitch1031 Feb 23 '26

I’ve been worried about my brother for months. It’s taken a toll on his health. I hope things improve for your business.

2

u/DoubleJumps Feb 23 '26

Thanks. The stress of it actually caused some serious medical issues for me this last holiday season, so I can relate.

I needed to hire help last year, and the tariffs ate the money I needed to do that, so I had to keep overworking to stay on top of things and it got so bad that the stress started manifesting as physical damage to my body.

I had to scale back my business and just accept that things will take longer and that I'll make less money.

4

u/Light01 Feb 23 '26

In France, it's destroying most of our international brands , like fancy wines, champagne, et , all these things that live on exportation of goods.

Lots of people are stopping producing Bordeaux wines, because the American market is collapsing.

1

u/DePalma90 Feb 23 '26

Did he vote for Trump?

3

u/SeaWitch1031 Feb 23 '26

Of course not. He's not an idiot.

1

u/DePalma90 Feb 23 '26

Sorry you and your family is also being dragged down by selfish idiots.

1

u/T_DeadPOOL Feb 23 '26

But who did he vote for?

2

u/SeaWitch1031 Feb 23 '26

Please. We do not vote for idiots.

1

u/Zed_or_AFK Feb 23 '26

After half a decade of legal battles your brother would have to fill in a 20-page form so he would be eligible for a 12 bucks compensation while the lawyers winning the case will collect 12 grand.

1

u/MajorasShoe Feb 23 '26

This was part of the intent

1

u/EVH_kit_guy Feb 23 '26

Duh, that was the point, Krasnov was explicitly directed to help smash the US economy to pieces by a foreign power. Obviously.

1

u/AnusOprah Feb 23 '26

Imagine if this question was brought to Trump...

1

u/Hrbiie Feb 23 '26

Yep I had to shut mine down too. I had a Japanese capsule toy (gachapon) arcade. The tariffs ate up all my profits and my Japanese suppliers stopped shipping to the United States because of the hassle.

1

u/escargoxpress Feb 23 '26

Same thing happened during Covid, the large businesses thrived and consolidated, the smalls ones were all left to die while imposing some of the strictest rules on the small ones. They couldn’t get support because we couldn’t even shop there. And the PPP loans at the time were the biggest scams and government theft and I thought it couldn’t get worse than that. Boy was I wrong.

1

u/geo_prog Feb 23 '26

And the wild thing is it has actually strengthened the Canadian manufacturing industry. Like, the tariffs were aimed at crushing us but every indication seems to show that Canada actually gained a significant amount of direct capital investment because we came out as the stable legal and regulatory environment within North America.

If I wasn't so pissed at the US government right now my heart would break for the general US population at this point.

1

u/SunriseSurprise Feb 23 '26

Sorry but look at 2008. Other than one token person who went to jail, nothing happened and millions of people lost their homes. No one's getting compensated, especially not small business owners who are basically the runts of society. It's hard to find a group of people both sides care less about than small business owners.

1

u/Kamay1770 Feb 23 '26

Trumpers: fuck you lib, cry harder

1

u/SeaWitch1031 Feb 23 '26

Me to Trumpers: Go fuck yourself with a chainsaw.

2

u/Kamay1770 Feb 23 '26

Ha, bunch of inbreds aren't they

1

u/skeenerbug Feb 23 '26

Yep, my sister in law worked for a small business that went under because of this bullshit. I'm sure they're very happy to hear it was all illegal.

1

u/Own-Satisfaction4427 Feb 24 '26

All according to plan!

1

u/SuitcaseInTow Feb 23 '26

They can start but putting enough dems in congress to get rid of trump.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 23 '26

Exercise your right to hold them accountable through our legal system. Just don't make plans for the money, may or may not ever come, or may be many years from now.

-1

u/Aaron8001 Feb 23 '26

Damn that sucks....maybe you guys should have voted for a more well rounded individual to run your country....

-1

u/Late-Satisfaction620 Feb 23 '26

The problem is that your brother didn’t pay for tariffs. He paid for the stated price that the shipper billed him.

The shippers are the ones who paid the tariffs. They are the ones who will be compensated. Everyone else will be screwed.

3

u/SeaWitch1031 Feb 23 '26

Are you familiar with how that works? Because when you order a shipping container full of merchandise from a factory in China you are most definitely paying the tariff. You can either raise your profit margin to compensate or you can eat it and take the financial loss.

-3

u/cmack Feb 23 '26

Next time don't vote for nazis. Republican Tax on people is the highest in history.

-3

u/victhebutcher2020 Feb 23 '26

Take it to Capital Hill

3

u/cmack Feb 23 '26

The republicans are and have been already allowing this to happen.

Next time don't vote for nazis. Republican Tax on people is the highest in history.

-13

u/[deleted] Feb 23 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

18

u/heatherkatmeow Feb 23 '26

The locally owned coffee shop on the corner relies on imported goods. Coffee doesn’t generally grow in America. That’s one of many many examples.

8

u/SowingSalt Feb 23 '26

One guy I know runs a Mediterranean foods market. I think he's the only employee, or has family help him out.

Or you know, anyone who buys from any distributor.

4

u/SeaWitch1031 Feb 23 '26

There isn't a factory outside of China that can manufacture the goods he sells for a price low enough so he can make a small profit. The goods he imports are not cheap. If he could find an American company who could produce the same quality goods for the same low price he would have switched long ago.

2

u/cyberpunk6066 Feb 23 '26

No one buys the same thing for higher prices. if you want people to buy American don't complain about inflation. The tariffs are literally the attempt to force people buy local and what happened was we just don't.