By Timothy Aeppel
May 12 (Reuters) – Heavy-truck maker Oshkosh Corp and toy maker Basic Fun on Tuesday both said they had received partial payments of the refunds they had sought of the import tariffs they had paid under the Trump administration that were invalidated earlier this year by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The payments mark a milestone in a fraught battle over the taxes. The U.S. government has been ordered to refund up to $166 billion to importers after the tariffs were deemed illegal, and doubts have lingered about whether a last-minute move by the Trump administration could still stall or slow the process.
“The issue is will the funds flow like a river or fire hose or like a stream or garden hose,” Jay Foreman, CEO of Basic Fun, which sells Tonka trucks, Care Bears and K’Nex construction toys, said in an email. “So far, the funds are trickling out but they have started.”
Foreman said he received $400,000 out of his $7.4 million in claims. Oshkosh hasn’t disclosed the amount it is seeking, but the company acknowledges it started receiving a portion.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said as of early April, some 56,497 importers had completed the necessary steps to receive electronic refunds, an amount totaling $127 billion, or more than three-quarters of the total eligible to be refunded. More than 330,000 importers paid the tariffs on 53 million shipments.
(Reporting by Timoty Aeppel; Editing by Mark Porter and Aurora Ellis)
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