Nintendo sued in class-action lawsuit over tariff refunds

Redmond-based video game giant Nintendo of America is facing a class-action lawsuit tied to President Donald Trump's tariffs.

According to the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court in Seattle, Nintendo charged higher prices to consumers to cover tariff costs the federal government enacted under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in February 2025. The Supreme Court struck those specific tariffs down a year later, however, and the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled importers are entitled to refunds.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection has launched a portal to issue refunds. The agency said it will take 60 to 90 days for approved claims to get a refund.

"The economic reality of the tariff regime, however, is that importers like Nintendo did not ultimately bear all the costs of the tariffs. Instead, the importers passed the elevated costs on to consumers in the form of higher retail prices," the complaint said. "Nintendo therefore collected the tariff costs from consumers through elevated pricing, while seeking refunds of the same tariff payments from the federal government. Unless restrained by this court, Nintendo stands to recover the same tariff payments twice — once from consumers through higher prices and again from the federal government through tariff refunds, including interest paid by the government on those funds."

https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2026/04/22/nintendo-america-tariffs-trump-switch-ieepa.html