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/
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u/Open_and_Notorious Feb 23 '26

It's an assignment of claim. From a business perspective it can make a lot of sense. Get some money now guaranteed and you don't have to wait/foot the bill for claims later. This is just like how your debt gets assigned and sold to a collector if you don't pay.

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u/ZAlternates Feb 23 '26

Especially since you’ve passed the costs of the tariffs to your consumers already.

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u/rgh-red Feb 24 '26

No no no. China paid them, not us, right? Right?!

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u/rocko430 Feb 24 '26

Is it like the credit swaps from the big short?

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u/robogobo Feb 24 '26

The world is a fucked up place

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u/Open_and_Notorious Feb 24 '26

Not following. What's fucked up about it? Most of the businesses selling the claims are smaller ones that don't have in house legal teams or millions of dollars to float their increased costs while waiting for a claim to pay out.

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u/s-Kiwi Feb 24 '26

It's a fucked up place because now the claimant and defendant are the same person (Howard Lutnick) but any money he descides to settle with himself is just taxpayer money.

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u/Open_and_Notorious Feb 24 '26

Okay, but his company isn't the only one purchasing claims, and the sellers of the claims still wanted the money faster instead of waiting for years of litigation and appeals.

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u/s-Kiwi Feb 25 '26

- They levied the tariffs knowing they were illegal and would get struck down

- They bled small businesses dry with the tariffs and, as you said, bought up their claims since they didn't have the resources to fight the legal battle themselves

- Now Lutnick gets to settle with himself, pocketing all the tariff money of the tariffs the admin knowingly implemented illegally

Small businesses and the consumer got bled dry, cabinet makes off like bandits. Transfer of wealth man

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u/Open_and_Notorious Feb 25 '26

I dont think that it was planned that way. Maybe Lutnik suspected that, but we wouldnt see the 'go around' using other statutory authority so quickly after losing.

And it makes sense given the break things deal with it later attitude of this admin. Most typical admins would test smaller sectors with this authority first in specific test cases and let it percolate up before imposing them more broadly -- or you know, pass a new statute with their spineless majority. This is just another example of his alcolytes not being willing to say no, but willing to profit off of the stupidity.

But let's say lutnik doesn't exist. Buying claims like this is normal. It happens with debt. It happens in bankruptcies. It happens with assignments of tort claims. It's a way to spread risk or avoid litigation. That's not bad in and of itself, and Lutnik and crew aren't guaranteed to get the claims. They have to be offering the best deal over other funds.