Portland businesses hit hard by tariffs await refunds months after US Supreme Court ruling

 In February, a split ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the sweeping tariffs President Trump had imposed early last year under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. As a result, last month the Customs and Border Protection agency opened an online portal for importers and customs brokers seeking refunds for the estimated $166 billion in tariffs companies had paid to import goods.    Some businesses have started receiving their refunds while others, including Portland-based Steven Smith Teamaker, are still waiting. As the Portland Business Journal reported last month, 90% of its ingredients are imported, making the company subject to volatile tariff rates that rocketed as high as 50% at one point last year. CEO Darren Marshall says that the company spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in unanticipated tariffs, which its customs broker has filed on its behalf to recoup. Revant Optics, a Portland manufacturer of replacement lenses for sunglasses that launched its own line of sunglasses last June, is owed nearly $700,000 in duties it paid on imports from China and Taiwan, according to CEO and founder Jason Bolt.    Marshall and Bolt join us for more details, along with Chris McKinney, president of Brownstone International. The Portland-based customs broker has filed claims for tariff refunds on behalf of Steven Smith Teamaker and dozens of other clients.