Michael Burns made a bet that the Supreme Court would strike down some of the Trump administration’s tariffs. Now it is paying off.
Burns, who owns the auto-products maker ValvoMax, decided to hold parts for the company’s oil-change kits in India back in October, hoping a court ruling would lower the tariff bill.
Once the court ruled that some tariffs were illegal, Burns jumped into action, telling the factory to ship the parts as soon as possible, before rates changed again.
“This is a big win for me, even if I don’t get the refund,” said Burns, who expects to pay $15,000 instead of $50,000 in tariffs on the shipment, valued at roughly $100,000. “For a small-business owner, that’s a lot of money.”
Companies that have been feeling the pinch from import duties over the past year are scrambling to capitalize on the Supreme Court ruling, even as it has sparked a fresh wave of uncertainty.
Some quickly made the decision to accelerate shipments to take advantage of the new, lower tariff rates. Others are looking to speed up production of essential items or rethinking pricing strategies. Businesses are also totaling up their tariff bills—and taking steps to boost their chances of securing a refund.
Rapid-fire tariff changes over the past year have made planning difficult for companies of all sizes. At ValvoMax, higher tariff bills had forced the company to delay the introduction of a new oil-filter tool and put off plans to hire an additional employee. ValvoMax has four employees who assemble, test, package and fulfill orders at its warehouse in the Nashville, Tenn., area.
The uncertainty and legal wrangling have continued in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling.
President Trump announced a global tariff rate of 10% after the court’s decision and then said he would bump it to 15% a day later, using an authority that allows tariffs of up to 15% for 150 days. Trump has said those tariffs will be replaced with longer-lasting tariffs under a separate provision that allows for more-permanent levies.
Some basic details are confusing. The Supreme Court struck down the tariffs Feb. 20, but U.S. Customs made the effective date for ending them Feb. 24. The agency has implemented the new 10% tariff rate, but as of Wednesday hadn’t raised the rate to 15%.
A federal trade-court judge on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to start refunding the more than $130 billion it collected in the global tariffs invalidated by the Supreme Court in February. A day later, a coalition of two dozen states filed a lawsuit challenging the new global tariff Trump imposed following the Supreme Court ruling.
“One of the real big killers of our business over the last two years is the uncertainty of what the price of tariffs are going to be,” said Pete Barile, president of Daniel Paul Chairs, a Morristown, Tenn., maker of custom seating for hotels, country clubs and senior facilities. Sales fell 50% last year in the midst of rising tariff costs and customer concern about future tariffs.
It isn’t clear what the new tariff regime will mean for future shipments, said Barile, who relies on Chinese manufacturing for some production and Chinese parts for chairs made at the company’s U.S. factory. It typically takes four to six months from the time custom chairs made in China are ordered until they are delivered.
Executives at True Linkswear, a maker of golf shoes in Tacoma, Wash., met last week to discuss whether it made sense to speed up shipments.
But the timing is tricky. March and April are big delivery months for the 34-person company because golf-shoe sales typically peak during the summer. True Linkswear’s factory in Guangzhou, China, has been on a three-week holiday break.
“We will pick up discussions next week as we plan out timing of shipments,” said Chief Financial Officer Greg Wittreich. “For us, it’s a little bit of a wait and see.”
Digital Products International, a manufacturer and importer of consumer electronics, is telling its manufacturing partners to step up production of projectors, hobby drones with Wi-Fi cameras and other popular products.
“We are getting May ship dates out of China, so the race against time begins,” said Chief Executive Officer Matt Dortch, who hopes to get goods into the U.S. before the current 10% tariff rate expires in July.
DPI has been building up a cash cushion in case higher tariff rates return.
Some companies are putting off planned price increases. Alchemy Merch, a Phoenix-area maker of custom enamel pins, patches and other apparel accessories, decided in December that it would raise prices this year after absorbing added tariff costs in 2025. It had planned to formalize the changes with an email to customers in February, but has been holding off.
Owner Greg Kerr said he would still have to raise prices if tariffs remained at 10% or 15%. He is still trying to sort out the impact of the court decision and the timing of any price increase. “I have everything prepped for the price raise, but I haven’t implemented it because I’m still trying to bide my time to see what happens,” he said.
Alchemy absorbed about $40,000 in tariff costs last year instead of passing those charges on to customers.
Companies are also looking at how best to position themselves to secure tariff refunds. DPI, the consumer-electronics company, filed a lawsuit in the International Trade Court in January seeking a tariff refund of more than $5.8 million. As of Thursday, more than 2,200 companies have filed lawsuits seeking refunds, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal, with more joining the rolls every day.
A gymnastics and cheerleading-equipment company, Tumbl Trak, is moving forward with plans to file a protest with Customs and Border Protection that it hopes will preserve its right to a tariff refund as the legal process unfolds. The 28-person company paid nearly $1 million in additional tariffs last year, said CEO Stacy Finnerty.
Write to Ruth Simon at Ruth.Simon@wsj.com