Trump trade rep dodges Senate question on reimbursing families for illegal tariffs

Trump Trade Ambassador Dodges Key Question on Tariff Reimbursements

American families are unlikely to be reimbursed for the money they lost to President Donald Trump's illegal tariff plan.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer thwarted attempts by the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday to pin down when the Trump administration would return the money it has reaped from American consumers since Donald Trump initiated his "Liberation Day" tariffs in April 2025.

"The question I'm asking the administration: Are you going to give money back to the American people who paid more?" asked Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. "What the data shows is that the American people picked up about 95 percent of the costs of those Trump tariffs."

Warren then cited a figure from a February 2026 fact sheet compiled by the Joint Economic Committee Minority, which estimated at the time that Trump's tariffs had cost American families more than $1,700 each over the course of his second term.

"I just want to know if you even have the slightest effort—are making even the slightest effort—to try and get some of that money back into the pockets of American families," she continued. "Or does that just not matter to the Trump administration?"

"So what happened is the foreign and domestic importers, right? Who were buying foreign goods, not goods from American workers, foreign goods made by foreign workers who had to pay a fee on those foreign goods, those foreign importers … they can file, they had to pay the tariff, they can get the tariff back," Greer said, throwing the responsibility of the situation on the Biden administration and what he suggested was its poor budgeting.

"I take that what you're saying … is that the Trump administration just doesn't care," Warren said, chastising Greer for fixating on foreign producers rather than struggling Americans. "[The administration] isn't even lifting a finger to try and get one nickel of the money that was collected from consumers back into the pockets of consumers."

She then accused the White House of attempting to peel even more money from the American public by implementing new tariffs under an "obscure law from the 1930s."

"Here's my question: Ambassador Greer, if the Supreme Court strikes down your next round of tariffs, do you have a plan in place on how to return the money that American consumers pay under those tariffs?" she asked.

But Greer only regurgitated his previous response, claiming that U.S. Customs had already outlined how foreign manufacturers could recoup their losses.

The Supreme Court deemed Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs illegal in February, throwing not only the White House's economic plan into disarray, but also the primary driver behind the administration's foreign policy agenda. The ruling, however, did not stop the president, who within days had already announced new plans to impose more global levies.

Read more about tariffs:

• Trump Advisers Scramble to Talk Him Out of More Disastrous Tariffs

Independent Autopsy Raises Questions in Death of Nolan Wells

An independent autopsy report has raised more questions around the suspicious death of Nolan Wells.

Wells was a Black college freshman who went missing on July 4 in the water near Mississippi's Horn Island while attending a boat party with around 300 other young people. According to Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter, Wells stayed behind on the island with a young woman while the friends he came with left, as he was apparently expecting to get a ride home from someone else. His friends brought back his phone and keys, but not him. His body was found two days later.

Ledbetter announced that there was likely no foul play involved before even completing an official autopsy, leading civil rights lawyer Ben Crump to step in and call for an independent one, paid for by former NFL quarterback and activist Colin Kaepernick and conducted on July 10. It found Wells's cause and manner of death to be "undetermined" but did not rule out foul play.

The independent autopsy most notably showed "red discoloration" on the back of Wells's head, just above the start of his neck.