FedEx sues US government and demands 'full refund' as Trump tariffs come into force
The firm has not specified how much it is seeking but said it had taken "necessary action to protect the company’s rights"
American transport company FedEx has demanded a "full refund" after Donald Trump's global tariffs were introduced in a landmark lawsuit.
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The legal action marks the first attempt by a big company to seek reimbursement of their share of an estimated $175bn in levies.
It comes after President Trump's ten per cent levies came into force on Tuesday, at a lower rate than the 15 per cent he previously warned.
The FedEx lawsuit was filed in the US court of International Trade. While it has not specified an amount in its complaint but said it was seeking a 'full refund' for duties paid to the US.
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The company said in a statement: "While the Supreme Court did not address the issue of refunds, FedEx has taken necessary action to protect the company’s rights as an importer of record to seek duty refunds from US Customs and Border Protection."
It is believed that other companies are expected to follow suit.
Trump's ten per cent levies came into force from 5am this morning, which replaced his so-called "liberation day" tariffs which the Supreme Court ruled they were illegal.
In an angry response, the President initially threatened to hit every country on earth with 15 per cent levies, but was forced to lower that to ten per cent after the EU said it would halt plans to ratify its trade deal with the US.
Speaking on Friday after the ruling, he branded the justices who voted against him a "disgrace."
He added: "They're against anything that makes America strong, healthy and great again.
"They also are a, frankly disgrace to our nation, those justices, they're an automatic no.
"I won by millions of votes. We won in a landslide. With all the cheating that went on, there was a lot of it, we still won in a landslide too big to rig."
No guidance was provided as to whether businesses would be entitled to successfully claim refunds.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh said: "The court says nothing today about whether, and if so how, the government should go about returning the billions of dollars that it has collected from importers."
He added that "refunds of billions of dollars would have significant consequences for the US treasury."
In response to the tariffs, Downing Street said "nothing was off the table."
Asked on Monday about what steps the Government planned to take in response to the President, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: "Our approach to the US has always been pragmatic.
"We continue to have productive conversations with them and those discussions are happening at all levels, but nothing is off the table at this stage.
"Industry doesn’t want to see a trade war where both sides keep escalating the situation, and that’s why our focus is on constructive engagement with our US counterparts to retain the UK’s competitive advantage."