After a company goes live and starts doing business, it will be affected by regulations and laws enacted by the government. Some of them, the company will like, others they will not, but in business, one of the departments which is necessary is access to legal talent.

In an article by Wyatte Grantham Phillips of the Associated Press, in April 25, President Trump had what he called Liberation Day, it has taken a year but the Supreme Court ruled that the process in which President Trump enacted tariffs was illegal. In the Constitution only Congress has taxing power, President Trump called tariffs everything but a tax, but it was raising revenues and the Supreme Court said it was a tax and thus illegal. They offered the solution, go back to Congress and pass a tariff law. The reality was there was no enough votes to pass.

In the Supreme Court, the Judges asked how would the money be given back? No one knew for sure but The Customs and Border Protection Agency figured out a way and started to give back refunds for those who asked.

GM is expecting about a $500 million tariff refund and raised its expected refund $500 million to between $13.5 and $15.5 billion.

Companies big and small are seeking refunds for IEEPA tariffs they have already paid. CBP says when a claim is approved, it takes between 60 and 90 days for a refund to be issued. The system is done in phases so not all the money will be paid in the first phase.

CBP noted in a court filing, more than 330,000 importers paid a total of $166 billion on more than 53 million shipments.

If you believed similarly to President Trump foreign governments and foreign companies were paying tariffs, find out how many are getting refunds. It was the importer paying the tariff. Whether the company decides to lower prices is a different story because of the refunds, because President Trump is using other regulations to impose duties and tariffs. He has not made it to Congress yet.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, sometimes government regulations help a company, sometimes they have to work with regulations they do not like, which is why business lobbying through individual businesses or trade associations is very active in state capitals and in Washington. Although lobbyists are found in many parts of Washington, K Street is a desired location.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.