Gov. Maura Healey is urging Massachusetts businesses that paid duties under President Donald Trump’s struck-down tariff regime to file for refunds through a newly opened federal portal, while pressing the Trump administration to extend that relief directly to consumers.
In a statement issued Wednesday, Healey said businesses in the state should move quickly to recover costs they incurred under tariffs the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unlawful earlier this year. She also repeated her demand that the federal government send a $1,745 check to every Massachusetts household to offset the higher grocery, household-goods, and construction costs residents absorbed while the tariffs were in effect.
“President Trump’s illegal tariffs have increased costs for every Massachusetts business and resident,” Healey said. “It’s important that refunds are now available, and I encourage eligible businesses to apply. But this isn’t enough.”
The governor said Massachusetts families should not be left out of the refund process as importers begin recovering what they paid. “The Trump Administration must also issue refunds to American households — and the President needs to actually focus on making life more affordable and abandon his costly tariff plans for good,” she said.
The federal refund window opened Monday.
According to the Washington Times, U.S. Customs and Border Protection launched an online system named “the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries system, or CAPE, to process claims from companies that paid tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. CBP estimates roughly 330,000 importers paid IEEPA duties, and that total refunds could reach about $166 billion, the Times reported.
The Supreme Court struck down those tariffs on Feb. 20 in a 6-3 decision in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, ruling that IEEPA does not give the president authority to impose sweeping, nation-by-nation duties, SCOTUSblog reported. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Justices Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, and Samuel Alito dissented.
The ruling applied only to the IEEPA-based tariffs, which Trump unveiled in April 2025 as part of what the administration called “Liberation Day.” Separate duties imposed under Sections 232, 301, and 122 of federal trade law remain in place and are not affected by the decision, according to an analysis published by the Tax Foundation.
Healey’s Tuesday statement builds on a letter she sent to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last month.
As the Boston Globe reported, the governor demanded on March 10 that the federal government refund $1,745 to every Massachusetts household — a figure her office calculated using data from the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee, which estimated American consumers paid about that much in tariff-driven costs between February 2025 and January 2026. With roughly 2.8 million households statewide, Healey’s office put the total Massachusetts tab at nearly $4.9 billion.
The governor has portrayed her administration as one of the most assertive Democratic responses to the tariff fallout. According to her office, Healey previously launched the Massachusetts Tariff Response and Business Operations Support Initiative to help businesses navigate the new costs, convened state business leaders to hear how the duties were affecting operations, and hosted six Northeastern governors and six Canadian premiers at the State House to discuss regional coordination.
The Treasury Department has not publicly committed to any household-level refund program. CBP said approved business claims filed through the CAPE portal should be processed within 60 to 90 days of acceptance, barring compliance issues, the Washington Times reported.
https://ctninfo.com/?p=42331&preview=true
