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Keep your receipts: Tech firms told to prepare for possible tariff refunds

For months, the Trump administration has warned that semiconductor tariffs are coming soon, leaving the tech industry on pins and needles after a chaotic year of unpredictable tariff regimes collectively cost firms billions.

The semiconductor tariffs are key to Donald Trump’s economic agenda, which is intended to force more manufacturing into the US by making it more expensive to import materials and products. He campaigned on axing the CHIPS Actβ€”which provided subsidies to companies investing in manufacturing chips in the USβ€”complaining that it was a β€œhorrible, horrible thing” to β€œgive hundreds of billions of dollars” away when the US could achieve the same objective by instead taxing companies and β€œuse whatever is left over” of CHIPS funding to β€œreduce debt.” However, as 2025 winds down, the US president faces pressure on all sides to delay semiconductor tariffs, insiders told Reuters, and it appears that he is considering caving.

According to β€œtwo people with direct knowledge of the matter and a third person briefed on the conversations,” US officials have privately told industry and government stakeholders that semiconductor tariffs will likely be delayed.

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US may owe $1 trillion in refunds if SCOTUS cancels Trump tariffs

If Donald Trump loses his Supreme Court fight over tariffs, the US may be forced to return β€œtens of billions of dollars to companies that have paid import fees this year, plus interest,” The Atlantic reported. And the longer the verdict is delayed, the higher the refunds could go, possibly even hitting $1 trillion.

For tech companies both large and small, the stakes are particularly high. A Trump defeat would not just mean clawing back any duties paid on imports to the US that companies otherwise can use to invest in their competitiveness. But, more critically in the long term, it would also end tariff shocks that, as economics lecturer Matthew Allen emphasized in a report for The Conversation, risked harming β€œinnovation itself” by destabilizing global partnerships and diverse supply chains in β€œtech-intensive, IP-led sectors like semiconductors and software.”

Currently, the Supreme Court is weighing two cases that argue that the US president does not have unilateral authority to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Defending his regime of so-called β€œreciprocal tariffs,” Trump argued these taxes were necessary to correct the β€œemergency” of enduring trade imbalances that he alleged have unfairly enriched other countries while bringing the US β€œto the brink of catastrophic decline.”

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Amazon expands low-cost β€˜Haul’ service and launches shopping event as tariffs squeeze Chinese rivals

The expansion of Amazon Haul comes at a pivotal moment in U.S. trade policy. (GeekWire File Photo / Todd Bishop)

A year after launching Amazon Haul, the company is expanding the low-cost shopping service globally β€” escalating its challenge to Temu and Shein just as U.S. trade policies disrupt the economics of the import model used by the Chinese companies.

The service, which began in the U.S., has now expanded to 25 countries and regions, with the company rebranding Haul as β€œAmazon Bazaar” in a growing number of those markets.

For Haul’s anniversary, Amazon is officially taking Haul out of beta and holding a two-day shopping event on Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 10 and 11. The company says the event will feature tens of thousands of items priced at $1 on the first day, followed by 11-cent β€œhidden treasures” on the second.Β 

The moves comes as Temu and Shein, who pioneered this form of online shopping, grapple with the U.S. decision to end the de minimis trade exemption. The policy previously allowed packages valued at less than $800 to ship directly from China to U.S. consumers duty-free.

Amazon has been reportedly been making greater use of its U.S. fulfillment network for Haul orders, minimizing the severe tariff impacts from direct-to-consumer shipments from China.

Haul gives shoppers a separate storefront to browse items that are typically priced under $20, and many for less than $10. After launching initially as a mobile-only service, it has since expanded to the web. Orders usually arrive within a week or two.

Amazon said customer visits to Haul have tripled since June and its product selection has grown by nearly 400% in the past year, with more than 1 million items under $10. To encourage larger orders, Amazon now offers 5% off orders over $50 and 10% off orders over $75.

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