This is an episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, which features candid conversations about how today’s trends are shaping the future of the beauty and wellness industries. More from the series →
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There’s a new chapter in President Donald Trump’s ongoing tariff rollercoaster.
In April of 2025, President Trump unveiled his reciprocal tariff plan, which stacked new tariffs onto existing duties to raise overall import taxes as high as 145% for certain countries. The “Liberation Day” announcement left the beauty, fashion and wellness industries struggling to properly plan for 2025 and beyond.
These tariffs have been a major source of revenue for the Federal government. In January, the U.S. collected more than $30 billion in duties, more than double the amount generated in January of 2025.
Last week, in a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court struck down these tariffs on the grounds that they were ordered under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The SCOTUS ruling doesn’t say that Trump cannot enact tariffs, just that IEEPA doesn’t explicitly give the president that power.
This rollback has caused ripples throughout our focus industries, with brand leaders wondering what happens next and whether businesses can expect refunds on the tariffs struck down by SCOTUS. On Tuesday, House Democrats announced plans to unveil a bill on March 2 outlining how businesses can recoup these illegal tariffs. The Senate Committee on Finance estimates that the government collected about $175 billion in tariffs under IEEPA since April 2025.
Immediately after the SCOTUS ruling, President Trump signed an executive order imposing a blanket 10% percent tariff on imported goods. On Saturday, he said he would raise it to 15%, but as of Wednesday, at the time this podcast was recorded, U.S. Custom and Border Protection had replaced Trump’s IEEPA tariffs with a 10% global import charge. It’s unclear if it will be changed to 15% soon.
On Tuesday, during the State of the Union address, President Trump called the SCOTUS ruling “unfortunate” and said that the “type of money we’re taking in is saving our country.” He said the U.S. would soon have to “make a new deal that could be far worse” for companies and countries as the administration is “testing alternative legal statutes” which are “a little more complex but probably a little bit better” than IEEPA. He added that “congressional action would not be necessary” to reinstate similar tariffs.
In the meantime, brands have been left to navigate a quickly changing landscape. In today’s episode, Glossy Beauty Podcast host Lexy Lebsack is joined by senior fashion reporter Danny Parisi and senior beauty reporter Emily Jensen to unpack the latest tariff news and share how brands are responding. Both Parisi and Jensen covered the tariff rollback earlier this week for Glossy’s beauty and fashion verticals.
On planning for refunds
Jensen: “[I spoke to one brand founder who has] spent about $100,000 on tariffs, or at least that’s what she estimates they could get back. For a lot of these companies, that is a lot of money, and she seemed quite interested in taking the steps to recoup those funds. But, you know, some other founders have kind of expressed hesitation [stemming from] the [potential] cost of going after these refunds, from a legal, time or logistical perspective, wondering if it is worth what they could get back, and when they may get that money back. We’ve already seen some very large corporations like Revlon and Costco sue the Trump administration to recoup those refunds. But again, you can imagine, of course, those companies can have a whole legal team devoted to this process that’s not going to take away time and resources from their day-to-day activity.”
On the initial reactions from brands
Parisi: “The phrase that came up in a lot of my conversations was ‘cautious optimism’. [Fashion] brands are very tired of this whole ordeal. They’ve spent the last year changing plans and moving production around, and a lot of them have said to me that they would rather the tariffs be high and stable. … The more annoying part is not the specific percentage, but just the fact that it has changed so much, even in just the last couple of days. Immediately after the Supreme Court ruling, Trump was like, ‘OK, 10% tariff.’ ‘OK, now 15%.’ ‘But then, actually, it is still 10% [at the time of recording this episode on Wednesday].’ … It’s seems kind of impulse-driven … and is still changing. The predominant feeling that I’ve heard is annoyance at the way this whole thing has been rolled out over the last year, and cautious optimism that this probably won’t be the end of tariffs, but maybe will transform into something more manageable or stable.”
On Trump’s possible new talking point
Lebsack: “In [President Trump’s] State of the Union [address on Tuesday], he really teased that some even worse tariffs are coming. So again, who knows what is going to happen in the coming days, but I will share one odd thing from the State of the Union: As Trump was sort of wrapping up some of the things he was saying about tariffs, he said, ‘I believe the tariffs paid for by foreign countries will substantially replace the modern system of income tax, taking a great financial burden off the people that I love.” I hadn’t heard [rhetoric like] this before, … but this might be the new thing that we’re going to be hearing [from him] that brands should be aware of.”
