General Discussion

Yes, tarriff refunds go to the importer who directly paid them, like a tax refund.

But if the President determines that a group of Americans are particularly hard hit with monetary damages by circumstances beyond their control (as the home of Detroit's big 3 certainly is as a result of Trump’s tariffs), the President could send money from various emergency/relief funds to help those people get back on their feet. He already did that for farmers (who paid no tariffs). https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/news/press-releases/2025/12/08/trump-administration-announces-12-billion-farmer-bridge-payments-american-farmers-impacted-unfair#:~:text=Emergency%20Commodity%20Assistance%20Program%20(ECAP,sorghum%2C%20and%20other%20row%20crops.

Note that Pritzker refers to the $8,679,261,600 total as "damages" ( "...total damages you owe to $8,679,261,600..." ). Pritzker is no dummy.