Nintendo directly sues U.S. Government over tariffs

Nintendo of America filed a lawsuit Friday seeking a refund, with interest, from the U.S. government for every dollar it has paid in tariffs under the Trump administration’s IEEPA executive orders.

The complaint, filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade, was first spotted by Nicole Carpenter writing at Aftermath. The significant filing lists the U.S. Customs & Border Protection, Department of the Treasury, Homeland Security, and several Trump administration officials, including Kristi Noem, as defendants.

This direct move comes following a February 20th ruling which struck down the controversial International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariffs, and ruled them unauthorised. The Supreme Court found (6 to 3) that Congress never gave President Trump the authority to impose such tariffs. As a result of the ruling, Trump signed an executive order to end the IEEPA tariff collection — but crucially, said nothing about refunds for those already paid.

Nintendo, as the importer of goods subject to paying those duties, now wants its money back.

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The filing notes that over $200 billion in IEEPA tariffs has been in total since their introduction in February of 2025. Nintendo’s own individual wedge of that isn’t actually noted in the complaint, but some back of the napkin maths would likely put the number in the low hundreds of millions.

Of course, Nintendo is not the only company currently seeking to get a refund — and a federal judge has ruled that companies are legally entitled to such reimbursements. So, I guess this action is Nintendo’s way of making sure it sees that cash returned. I imagine the process of actually getting that cash back to Nintendo, despite the legal precedent being firmly on their side, will be a long and drawn out one.

This is just yet another wrinkle in the messy tariff story, and its ongoing impact on the launch of Nintendo’s latest hardware. The initial uncertainty that came about when Trump returned to office essentially resulted in Nintendo delaying U.S. preorders for their new machine, and eventually raising prices on various accessories.

Nintendo President Furukawa told investors that further increases weren’t off the table — but the main console price was not subject to change. Of course, Nintendo not shifting the console price means they likely absorbed some costs.

Ahead of launch the company shipped aggressively into the U.S. in an effort to get ahead of any potential further increases. This move worked for them (with the Switch 2 now the fastest-selling console in US history). But it’s probably fair to say the company paid for such stability in the form of tariff bills that the Supreme Court has now declared unlawful.

Don, Nintendo wants their money back.