New Delhi: Since the US Supreme Court has ruled that President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs imposed from April 2025 were illegal, the US government has started the process of issuing refunds to those who contributed to the whopping $166 billion in tariffs under this regime. According to the Global Trade Research Initiative, about $12 million of this is linked to goods imported from India, as about 53% of India’s exports to the US saw these high tariffs imposed.However, it is unlikely that Indian exporters will be seeing much gain from this, even if the applications for refund for these exports go through. “To get refunds, U.S. importers must file detailed claims with shipment data, tariff lines and proof of payment. Approved claims, with interest, are expected within 60–90 days. Only those who paid the tariffs—mainly U.S. importers and companies—can claim refunds,” GTRI head Ajay Srivastava has explained. “Exporters and consumers cannot claim directly, though some firms like FedEx may choose to share refunds voluntarily.”Pankaj Chadha, chairman of the Engineering Exports Promotion Council, told Business Standard that the refunds would flow to US importers who on record had paid the duties. “There are cases where the Indian company is the importer on record in the US because it is a subsidiary company. In such cases, they will get the full tariff refund benefit. In other cases, where the exporter and importers are not related but deal with each other currently, the Indian exporter can ask the buyer to give some extra price in the next order. But it purely depends on the goodwill of the buyer.”As The Wire has reported before, labour intensive sectors including textile and apparel, clothing, carpets and diamond and gold products were the Indian exports hit by the high tariffs imposed. “Of the estimated $12 billion [in tariffs paid] linked to India, textiles and apparel may account for about $4 billion, engineering goods another $4 billion, and chemicals about $2 billion, with smaller shares from other sectors,” Srivastava notes.Trump’s tariff regime was particularly expensive for Indian goods. The rate began at 10% in April 2025, and then escalated rapidly – to 25% by August 7, 2025 and to 50% by August 28. They remained at that level until early February 2026. In order to stay competitive in this scenario, exporters were forced to offer discounts of up to 25% to US buyers, Business Standard reports.Though India and the US reportedly reached a trade deal that involved an 18% tariff on Indian goods in February, the US Supreme Court invalidated Trump’s tariff framework on February 20 altogether.But now, those same US buyers are unwilling to share refunds with exporters. “We had long discussions with the buyers, but they have refused to share the tariff refund with us. While importers will benefit directly, we will benefit indirectly as buyers will use the extra cash in hand to place more orders with us. There are a lot of enquiries coming from the US, but there is some uncertainty due to the ongoing war in West Asia. Freight rates have also gone up and travel time to the US has also increased,” an apparel exporter told Business Standard. Other buyers have reportedly said that they will see what happens if/when the refunds come through.Since technically the Indian exporters have no legal rights over the refund, despite the fact that they paid about $12 million because of the changed tariff regime, all negotiations will take place between individual Indian exporters with their US buyers. “To benefit, Indian exporters must negotiate with U.S. buyers. They should seek a share of refunds where earlier prices included tariff costs. This can be done by reopening contracts, adding rebate-sharing clauses, asking for price revisions or credit notes, and using invoices and tariff data to show how costs were absorbed. Exporters with stronger bargaining power—especially in textiles and engineering goods—may secure better terms in future orders,” Srivastava writes.