Costco is one of thousands of companies that started filing claims this month for tariff refunds from the federal government. But a Chicago-area shopper wants the retail giant to pass along those refunds to its members. Costco customer Matthew Stockov filed a class action lawsuit last month in the N orthern District of Illinois Court to prevent the company from "double recovery," or benefiting twice from the refund process."Costco is poised to be paid twice for the same unlawful tariff burden: once by its customers (through elevated prices) and once by the U.S. government (through tariff refunds)," according to the complaint.The lawsuit said Stockov purchased items like electronics, food, household items and small appliances at inflated prices due to tariffs. And it said company executives acknowledged the price increases, citing a May 2025 earnings call where Costco Chief Financial Officer Gary Millerchip said prices were raised for certain products from Central and South America "because we felt that was something that the member would be able to absorb.”Costco didn't respond to a request for comment.A similar lawsuit against Costco over tariff refunds was recently filed in Washington. Other companies, like Lululemon, FedEx, Nintendo and Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica, are also facing lawsuits from customers. Lululemon, like Costco, is accused of "double recovery" regarding the unlawful tariffs, in a complaint filed March 27.The U.S. Supreme Court in February ruled that tariffs President Donald Trump imposed under an emergency powers law were unconstitutional, including the "reciprocal" tariffs he levied on nearly every other country. The U.S. Court of International Trade later determined that companies subjected to tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act were entitled to refunds.U.S. importers and customs brokers were able to start filing refund claims on Apr. 20, through an online portal launched by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The federal agency estimated 330,000 importers paid about $166 billion on more than 53 million shipments, as of March 4.About one-third of Costco’s products are imported, and in 2024, the retailer ranked among the top 35 U.S. importers out of 100, according to the complaint.Costco had sued the Trump administration in November, requesting a full refund in advance of the Supreme Court’s ruling.The company operates 924 warehouses worldwide, with over 68% in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. It reported last month a second-quarter profit of $2 billion, compared with $1.8 billion for the same period a year earlier. And revenue rose to $69.6 billion from $63.7 billion a year prior.Costco CEO Ron Vachris said it has taken steps to reduce the impact of tariffs on customers, during an earnings call on March 5."In many cases, we didn't pass the full cost on to our members. The complexity of the tariffs implemented over the past year, including layering of different tariffs on top of each other and multiple changes in rates throughout the year, also made it challenging to track the exact impact to an individual item sold," Vachris said. "As we've done in the past when legal challenges have recovered charges passed on in some form to our members, our commitment will be to find the best way to return this value to our members through lower prices and better values. We'll be transparent in how we plan to do this if and when we receive any refunds."But the lawsuit, filed March 11, said Vachris was promising to help future shoppers, not those who already paid the higher prices."Thousands of companies — including Costco — have filed lawsuits in the CIT [Court of International Trade], actively seeking refunds for every cent of their IEEPA tariff bill. If they succeed, they will not be obligated to return money to their customers under federal trade law. This despite estimates from Goldman Sachs that U.S. consumers are 'shouldering two-thirds of President Trump’s new tariff costs,'" according to the complaint.The proposed class action lawsuit looks to include Costco customers in the U.S. who purchased a product subject to IEEPA tariffs between Feb. 1, 2025, and Feb. 24, 2026. They must reside in the following states: Illinois, California, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Washington and Wisconsin. Related Illinois businesses have mixed results with tariff refund process ...read more read less