A pair of Nintendo gamers have filed a class-action lawsuit against the company, seeking a cut of any tariff refunds that the company could receive from the U.S. government.
The lawsuit, filed earlier this week in federal court in Washington state, argues that Nintendo should not be able to keep “ill-gotten profits” after it allegedly raised prices on consumers to offset tariff costs while seeking a refund on the duties from the government.
The case comes as U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) launched a new online portal this week, allowing importers to apply for refunds on tariffs that the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down as illegal.
Back in February, the Supreme Court ruled that most of the tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) were unconstitutional. The court found that Trump overstepped his authority by using an emergency law to impose massive tariffs and that Congress never clearly gave him that power.
Now, CBP said in court filings that importers paid roughly $166 billion in tariffs under Trump’s unconstitutional policy.
Nintendo itself sued the U.S. government last month following the ruling, arguing that it is entitled to refunds on those payments.
Around the time the tariffs were taking effect, Nintendo delayed preorders for the Nintendo Switch 2 “in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions.” The company later said it was raising prices on original Nintendo Switch consoles and Nintendo Switch 2 accessories, also due to “market conditions.”
Now, players behind the lawsuit say any tariff refunds should ultimately be passed down to consumers who bought those products at higher prices.
“The economic reality of the tariff regime, however, is that importers like Nintendo did not ultimately bear all the costs of the tariffs. Instead, the importers passed the elevated costs on to consumers in the form of higher retail prices,” the lawsuit reads. “Unless restrained by this Court, Nintendo stands to recover the same tariff payments twice—once from consumers through higher prices and again from the federal government through tariff refunds, including interest paid by the government on those funds,” the lawsuit states.
Nintendo did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Gizmodo.
Nintendo isn’t the only company facing this kind of legal challenge. FedEx and Costco have also been hit with similar class-action lawsuits, though they appear to be taking different approaches.
“Yes. FedEx will issue refunds for IEEPA tariffs paid to shippers and consumers who originally bore those charges once FedEx begins receiving refunds from CBP,” the company said online.
Meanwhile, Costco CEO Ron Vachris told investors last month that the company plans to return that value to shoppers through “lower prices and better values.”
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