Trump said he would "remember" the companies that did not apply for tariff refunds

US President Trump said that he would "remember" the companies that did not seek refunds for the illegal tariffs imposed by the Supreme Court. However, he did not specify what benefits there would be from giving up the application for tariff refunds.

Reuters reported that on Tuesday (April 21st), during a live phone interview on CNBC, Trump said: "It's very wise of them not to apply for a refund."

The US Customs and Border Protection Agency began accepting electronic tax refund applications from importers on the 20th. Trump told CNBC that he learned from media reports that Apple, Amazon, and some other major companies had not yet applied for tariff refunds. He was very pleased.

Trump said: "If they don't apply for a refund, I will keep them in mind because I am striving to make this country stronger."

The crux of the tariff dispute lies in the fact that the Trump administration imposed approximately 166 billion US dollars (approximately 211.4 billion Singapore dollars) in tariffs on US importers. These taxes were imposed as so-called "reciprocal" tariffs by Trump last April, when he invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs on almost all trading partners.

In February this year, the US Supreme Court ruled that the "International Emergency Economic Powers Act" did not authorize the president to impose large-scale tariffs. It stated that Trump exceeded his authority and violated the constitution.

Trump once described the payment of tariffs by American importers as an act of patriotism. However, in a phone interview on the 21st, he seemed to refer to the American companies that applied for tariff refunds as "enemies".

Trump said: "In many cases, the enemy - this money ended up in the hands of the enemy."

"Those people hate the United States, yet we hand them out hundreds of millions of dollars in cash. It's truly sad."

What Trump was referring to was clearly the companies that applied for tariff refunds, but he did not name the specific companies or the origin countries of the imported products.

Trump said that the Supreme Court "could have helped us" in maintaining his comprehensive global tariff policy.

Costco, FedEx, and major food company Mondelez, among others, in the United States, have filed a lawsuit against the US government to safeguard their rights to receive tariff refunds.

Apple, Amazon, and the US retail giant Target and Walmart have not done this yet, but they can still submit tariff refund applications through the CAPE (Customs and Border Protection Agency) website.

Some experts believe that some companies keep a low profile in order to avoid annoying Trump.

Apple, Amazon, Target and Walmart did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Apple recently disclosed that tariffs led to an increase of approximately 3.3 billion US dollars in the company's costs last year; some major retailers did not specify how much the tariffs affected their profits.

Last May, Trump demanded that Walmart "bear the tariffs on its own" and not raise prices. Previously, it was reported that Amazon had considered including a separate tariff surcharge in the pricing of its low-cost logistics department, Haul. The Trump administration accused Amazon of this move as "hostile political behavior".