Companies are pocketing billions in tariff refunds. A Fed study says only 15% plan to lower prices — and Walmart is one of the few

As the Hill reports, the agency set up a refund process in May, but only for businesses — not average Americans. By mid-September, the U.S. Treasury had issued nearly $135 billion in tariff refunds. Big checks went to big retailers, including:

• Walmart (NASDAQ: WMT) — $2.9 billion refund
• Apple — $2.2 billion refund
• Nike — $986 million refund
• Target — $994 million refund
• Home Depot — $730 million refund
• Amazon — $600 million refund
• General Motors — $500 million refund
• TJX (of TJ Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods) — $331 million refund
• Lowe’s — $80 million refund
• Motorola — $60 million refund

A Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta survey revealed that most of those businesses are keeping their windfalls rather than passing them on to consumers.

Here’s a closer look at what executives plan to do with the money and how consumer advocates and lawmakers are demanding that Americans get a break.

Firms sitting on billions in tariff refunds

For context, the tariff refunds represent an average 1.7% of annual revenues, according to the Fed researchers.

As Bloomberg reported, the survey found that 75.2% of companies plan to hold onto their refunds, with 52.5% planning to invest in research and development or capital projects.

Only 17.2% plan to pass their tariff refunds on in the form of consumer rebates. Just 14.8% intend to lower prices.

Walmart is one of those companies. It’s pledged to use its tariff refund to cut prices, per CNN. FedEx (NYSE: FDX) set up a tariff refund portal for eligible customers, and UPS (NYSE: UPS) is also offering tariff refunds to customers, per CBS.

Now many consumers and others are advocating for refunds to average Americans. They also want the administration to eliminate the new tariffs it launched following that ruling, including up to 12.5% tariffs on imports from 86 countries and 50% tariffs on a variety of Canadian products.

Business, consumers and lawmakers demand refunds for all

Consumers who have seen the scale of the corporate refunds have launched class-action lawsuits against the companies themselves, demanding a share. Nike is one target.