WASHINGTON, April 25, 2026, 15:04 EDT
- House Democrats want Costco and several other major retailers to detail whether Trump-era tariff refunds would actually make their way to consumers.
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection is rolling out CAPE, a fresh electronic process aimed at helping importers claim IEEPA tariff refunds.
- Saturday saw U.S. markets shut. Costco’s stock most recently changed hands at $1,011.15, putting its market cap near $449 billion.
Costco Wholesale is under renewed scrutiny in Washington, with House Democrats pressing the warehouse giant and other major firms to clarify whether refunds from overturned Trump-era tariffs will benefit shoppers—or just stay in corporate coffers.
This is coming to a head now that refund processing has kicked in. U.S. Customs and Border Protection rolled out the initial phase of CAPE—the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries—within its ACE import platform. The goal: to process refund claims on duties paid under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA.
Representative Steven Horsford of Nevada and other Democrats fired off a letter to CEOs at Costco, Walmart, Amazon, Target, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Best Buy, FedEx, UPS and DHL, pressing for details on how they’d pass along any tariff relief. The group demanded to know whether the companies would lower prices, issue credits, or offer other direct benefits, and wanted assurances that any refunds wouldn’t wind up funding stock buybacks or padded executive paychecks.
Costco and FedEx are taking the federal government to court, trying to keep refund rights alive by blocking the finalization of import entries. But Amazon, Target, and Walmart haven’t followed suit, Reuters reports. That leaves Costco facing more scrutiny than some other big retailers over who stands to gain if refunds get issued.
On March 5, Chief Executive Ron Vachris told analysts the company still doesn’t know when, or even if, Costco will see refunds, and how much they might get back. In many cases, he said, members didn’t pay the full brunt of tariffs, and with rates shifting, tracking the impact on specific items has proved difficult. “Our commitment will be to find the best way to return this value to our members through lower prices and better values,” Vachris said. The Motley Fool
Shoppers are pushing back. Last month, a Costco customer filed a proposed nationwide class action in Illinois, demanding that Costco hand over any IEEPA tariff refunds it ends up getting. The suit claims Costco could secure a “double recovery” by keeping those refunds after having already shifted some tariff costs into retail prices. Reuters
Costco’s numbers keep climbing. March net sales jumped 11.3% to $28.41 billion, the company reported. Stripping out fuel and currency shifts, comparable sales—those from long-running locations—were up 6.2%. As of that update, Costco counted 928 warehouses globally.
The quarter underscored why investors see the chain as a defensive play in retail. Same-store sales, stripping out gasoline, jumped 6.7%, beating forecasts, while net income climbed almost 14% to $2.04 billion. David Wagner, head of equity and portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors, said ongoing geopolitical uncertainty will probably keep Costco in its “safe haven” role. Reuters
Costco’s getting a bit of help as inflation cools, D.A. Davidson analyst Michael Baker noted, with the retailer pushing some of those savings through to shoppers. Still, as Baker put it, “recent events could re-reverse the trend.” It’s a balancing act: tariff refunds might give prices some room, but a new round of trade costs or rising bills for fuel and shipping could quickly erase those gains. Reuters
Still, there’s room for trouble with refunds. CAPE is getting phased in, starting with a narrow set: only some unliquidated entries and those liquidated less than 80 days ago make the cut for now. Plus, Vachris points out the old IEEPA tariffs, now thrown out, got swapped for new global tariffs covering at least 150 days — so any savings for customers are tough to pin down.
Costco faces a new challenge: will it actually deliver on its low-price promise? The retailer, which relies on paid memberships, now needs to prove if a refund secured in Washington will translate into real benefits for members—whether that shows up as lower prices on shelves, some kind of credit, or maybe nothing visible at all.
