{"id":588145,"date":"2026-09-02T17:14:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/588145\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T17:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:14:11","slug":"new-zealand-exporters-may-get-us-tariff-refunds-after-supreme-court-ruling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/588145\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand exporters may get US tariff refunds after Supreme Court ruling"},"content":{"rendered":"\u201cAny allocation of refunded tariffs will be determined through an appropriate process once the total tariff costs recovered are known,\u201d Zespri said in a statement to the Herald.<\/p>\n
Fonterra confirmed it had also applied for IEEPA refunds.<\/p>\n
New Zealand dairy exports to the US are currently subject to the applicable most favoured nation (MFN) tariff plus an additional 12.5% tariff.<\/p>\n
These additional tariffs result from the Section 301 investigation into 60 economies over forced labour in global supply chains.<\/p>\n
The New Zealand Government has rejected the basis for the tariffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 12.5% tariff puts the country\u2019s dairy exports into the US at a disadvantage currently to a number of other sources including the EU [capped at 10% under the 301 on forced labour],\u201d Fonterra said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, the tariff landscape remains fluid and is expected to change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Consultants EY New Zealand said refund eligibility would depend heavily on who was the importer of record in the US.<\/p>\n
Paul Smith, a partner and the New Zealand indirect tax leader at EY New Zealand, said refunds for big exporters were potentially significant.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom my perspective, it\u2019s just as well that our New Zealand exporters were proactive and actively sought refunds in respect of the IEEPA tariffs because they\u2019re now faced with ongoing tariffs of 12.5% for the foreseeable future,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve certainly been advising our clients for a long time that they should regard tariffs as being a permanent feature of the US trade policy landscape and that they should plan and adjust as appropriate.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd so what we\u2019re currently seeing now is that exporters have become used to US tariffs since April last year and as a consequence they\u2019ve been able to respond.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith said the US tariff landscape remained complex and there were a number of exemptions.<\/p>\n
\u201cInitially, we were concerned that New Zealand exporters would bear the brunt of tariffs and they would decrease exporters\u2019 margins, but what we\u2019ve seen over time is that exporters have been able to adjust their prices,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cost is embedded within the price of the goods or the commodity, and so inevitably that gets passed through the supply chain and ultimately becomes a cost that the end consumer bears if that US tariff cost is passed entirely throughout the supply chain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith said compliance with US Customs was becoming more important.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have always advised clients that US tariffs are here for the medium or long term,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLarge exporters, inevitably, have the resources to be able to adapt and respond to tariffs, whereas some of our entrepreneurial exporters might get caught out just because they haven\u2019t had that exposure to US tariffs before.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Supreme Court ruling provides relief in relation to IEEPA tariffs, but it does not signal a broader rollback of US trade protectionism.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile refunds offer a near\u2011term opportunity, businesses should continue to plan on the basis that elevated tariffs, new investigations and ongoing compliance requirements are likely to remain part of the trading landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jamie Gray is an Auckland-based journalist, covering the financial markets, the primary sector and energy. He joined the Herald in 2011.<\/p>\n
Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our\u00a0Business newsletter<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cAny allocation of refunded tariffs will be determined through an appropriate process once the total tariff costs recovered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588146,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[74,21972,138,23159,1349,29744,199562,71,3273,1333,663,7810,97679,117,111,139,69,7254,62382,13120,29946,30246,583,584,3040,80],"class_list":["post-588145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-after","tag-benefit","tag-business","tag-challenging","tag-court","tag-exporters","tag-februarys","tag-from","tag-future","tag-get","tag-looks","tag-may","tag-navigating","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-policy","tag-refunds","tag-remain","tag-ruling","tag-supreme","tag-tariff","tag-trade","tag-us","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}