At Hearing, Warren Grills Trade Ambassador on Disastrous Trump Tariffs, Refunds for American Families

American consumers will pay for roughly 95 percent of Trump tariffs Video of Exchange (YouTube) Washington, D.C. — At a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) pressed U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the Trump administration’s plans to refund the $166 billion in tariffs illegally collected from American importers, businesses, and consumers. Two months after the Supreme Court ruled that President Trump’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA)-based tariffs were illegal, the administration finally directed the Treasury Department to disburse refunds. Despite repeated claims that foreign countries would bear the costs, an analysis from the Congressional Budget Office and the Treasury Department states that Trump’s tariffs cost American families an average of $1,700. Recent reporting indicates that more than $70 billion has been refunded to importers by the Treasury, but no information has been publicly reported clarifying who received those refunds or when. The Department of Justice is currently appealing the court order requiring the administration to issue remaining refunds, creating even more uncertainty for businesses and consumers waiting to get their money back. “[T]he Trump administration just doesn’t care, isn’t even lifting a finger to try to get one nickel of the money that was collected from consumers back into the pockets of the consumers,” said Senator Warren. In the hearing, Senator Warren pressed Greer on when Americans would receive refunds from the illegally collected tariffs. Greer shifted blame to Democratic Attorneys General for the Supreme Court ruling requiring the money to be returned to companies, not to consumers, stating, “They didn’t say give it to consumers. They said give it to companies. So that’s what we have to do.” This week, President Trump imposed a new round of sweeping tariffs on Canadian goods. When pressed on whether the Administration has a plan for refunding consumers if Trump’s next round of tariffs is struck down, Greer avoided the question and refused to provide a clear answer. “What the Trump administration is doing is picking the pockets of American consumers,” concluded Senator Warren. “And after Donald Trump promised he would lower costs on day one, he put in place tariffs that have done nothing but raise prices for consumers.” Transcript: Hearings to examine the President’s 2026 trade policy agenda. Senate Finance Committee July 22, 2026 Senator Elizabeth Warren: Donald Trump campaigned for office, going out every day, promising that he would lower costs for American families on day one. Then he takes office and he slaps tariffs on and off and on and off nearly every product that we import. Americans are now paying for it. Based on an analysis from the Congressional Budget Office and the Treasury Department’s own numbers, Trump’s tariffs cost families an average of $1,700, and that was before his illegal war in Iran pushed prices even higher. Ambassador Greer, over a year ago, you sat in this very room, and my Democratic colleagues and I asked you about Trump’s chaotic across-the-board tariffs and said they will drive up prices. And you said, “No, we can have tariffs and lower prices.” Well, now we have the receipts. So let’s just clear this one up, Ambassador Greer. Have Trump’s tariffs increased prices for American families? Ambassador Greer: Senator, no. Core inflation fell to 2.6 percent year on year, much better than in January 2025. Senator Elizabeth Warren: So you’re saying that what the Congressional Budget Office and the Treasury Department’s own numbers—families are paying an average of $1,700 more—are you saying your own Treasury Department and your own Congressional Budget Office just don’t know what they’re talking about? Ambassador Greer: I’m interested in seeing what Treasury numbers you’re talking about. No one’s given them to me to look at, so I want to verify this. Senator Elizabeth Warren: Actually, they’ve been out there in public now for at least the last six months. They’ve been widely distributed because families are paying more. And there’s no serious economist around the country, there’s no serious person who looks at those numbers and thinks that families are doing better. Trump’s tariffs mean that families have paid, on average, $1,700 last year. And now the United States Supreme Court has said that those tariffs were illegal and that the Trump administration has to give people their money back. So far, the administration has been slow-walking. Ambassador Greer, are American consumers going to get any refunds on the tariffs that were illegally collected from them? Ambassador Greer: Senator, when the court ruled on this, they did exactly what the Democratic attorneys general who sued asked to do, which was to give money back to the companies, foreign and domestic, that paid the tariffs. That’s what Democratic attorneys general asked to do. They didn’t say give it to consumers. They said give it to companies. So that’s what we have to do. Senator Elizabeth Warren: I understand that’s how they got standing, but the question I’m asking the administration is, are you going to get money back to the American people who paid more? What the data show is the American people picked up about 95 percent of the cost of those Trump tariffs. They’ve paid an average of $1,700. Now, I just want to know if you even have the slightest effort, making even the slightest effort, to try to get some of that money back into the pockets of American families, or does that just not matter to the Trump administration? Ambassador Greer: So, what happened is the foreign and domestic importers, right, who are buying foreign goods, not goods from American workers. Foreign goods made by foreign workers who had to pay a fee on those foreign goods, those foreign importers’ records, domestic importers’ records, they can file. They had to pay the tariff. They can get the tariff back. Manufacturing workers’ wages have gone up $2,600, way beyond what the Biden budget lab at Yale has calculated. Senator Elizabeth Warren: No, actually they haven’t. What we know is that thousands of factory workers have lost their jobs. That means their incomes have gone to zero. But I take it what you’re saying. I think I’ve got your answer here, and that is the Trump administration just doesn’t care, isn’t even lifting a finger to try to get one nickel of the money that was collected from consumers back into the pockets of the consumers. And that certainly is where they are right now. Instead, what you’ve been doing is searching for other ways to see if you can take money out of the pockets of consumers with tariffs. And just this week, you slapped on new tariffs using an obscure law from the 1930s, plus using something called Section 301. But here’s my question: Ambassador Greer: If the Supreme Court strikes down your next round of tariffs, do you have a plan in place for how to return the money that American consumers pay under those tariffs? How to return that money directly to the families who pay? You can do this now. Put a plan in place. Do you have a plan in place? Ambassador Greer: Customs currently has a website to return any tariffs to the foreign importers’ records or domestic importers who paid them. And they’ll continue to do that. Senator Elizabeth Warren: I’m not asking about foreign importers. I’m asking about American families, the people you’re supposed to be working for. Do you have any plan if this next round of tariffs is struck down for how you’re going to get the money that is collected from American consumers back into their pockets? Ambassador Greer: The normal way that customs law worked is that the importer of record, if they pay a tariff, it’s overruled, they give it back. Senator Elizabeth Warren: I take that as a no. look, I believe that tariffs can be used strategically quite valuably, but what the Trump administration is doing is picking the pockets of American consumers. And after Donald Trump promised he would lower costs on day one, he put in place tariffs that have done nothing but raise prices for consumers. Senator Warren has led the fight to protect American workers from the Trump administration’s disastrous trade agenda: In June 2026, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) demanding answers on the Trump Administration’s delayed rollout of refunds for the $166 billion in tariffs illegally collected from American importers, businesses, and consumers. In June 2026, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) wrote to Secretary of Commerce (Commerce) Howard Lutnick , Secretary of the Treasury (Treasury) Scott Bessent, and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, asking them to explain the disappearance of tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs under the Trump administration, despite President Trump’s promise of a “manufacturing boom.” In June 2026, Senator Warren (D-Mass.) released a new report titled “10 Ways President Trump Has Hurt American Workers,” detailing how President Trump has broken his promises to workers. In April 2026, Senator Warren (D-Mass.) pressed U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the Trump administration’s use of tariffs to help Big Tech evade regulations that keep users safe — all while these tariffs jack up prices for American families and further decimate the manufacturing industry. In February 2026, at a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Warren (D-Mass.) called on the Trump Administration to use the upcoming joint review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to strengthen the agreement’s protections for American workers and consumers—rather than as an opportunity to secure giveaways for corporations and billionaires. In December 2025, Senators Warren (D-Mass.), Luján (D-N.M.), and Smith (D-Minn.) wrote to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer urging him to publish a complete written report outlining the administration’s objectives for U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) renegotiations and reveal whether giant corporations had influenced those trade priorities. In June 2025, Senator Warren (D-Mass.) led members of the Senate Democratic Caucus in writing to the Secretary of the Department of Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, urging the department to preserve President Biden’s expansion of the overtime threshold. In February 2025, at a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Warren (D-Mass.) questioned Mr. Jamieson Greer , then-nominee for U.S. Trade Representative, on his vision for Trump’s trade policy. Mr. Greer agreed with Senator Warren that large corporations have outsized influence on trade deals and that U.S. trade policy needs to ensure “American businesses and American workers [are] prioritized” and that any exemption program “needs to be transparent and have the rules outlined.” ###