Businesses Aren’t Rushing for Tariff Refunds

From Feb. 24 through March 10, we asked Food Processing visitors, the subscribers of ExecutiveEdge (our newsletter for executives across various industries) and the broader EndeavorB2B (that’s our parent firm) audience whether their businesses planned to file for a tariff refund. What stands out first is that most respondents are not moving quickly.

See the full ExecutiveEdge survey report here.

Of the 430 people who answered this poll, only 32% said their business is already pursuing a refund or plans to do so soon or eventually. In contrast, 29% said they aren’t sure, 20% say it’s not worth it, and 19% have already decided against it. Together, that means nearly seven in 10 respondents are either undecided or unconvinced. This broad uncertainty suggests that the end of emergency tariffs may be less of a financial windfall and more of a question of capital and attention allocation for business leaders.

Even among the 32% in the “yes” camp, conviction is limited: Only 11% said their team is already on it, while the rest said they plan to get to it sooner or later. In other words, many business leaders see a potential opportunity, but relatively few appear to be treating it as an immediate finance, legal or operational priority.

While Endeavor has media brands in construction, technology/software/telecom, automotive, healthcare and other industrial sectors, here’s a brief look into the manufacturing sector, which included some respondents from the Food Processing audience -- we couldn’t tell how many, although manufacturing accounted for the largest share of respondents (26%).

Manufacturing-Only Responses: Will your business file for a tariff refund?

Manufacturing is arguably among the sectors most exposed to tariffs, materials costs and supply chain volatility. When we filtered those responses, we found a more action-oriented subgroup than the overall sample. While only 32% of overall respondents said they are already pursuing a refund or expect to do so, that figure rises to 51% among manufacturing leaders. Only 20% of manufacturers have ruled it out compared to 39% of all respondents.

At the same time, the sector is not exactly settled: 29% of respondents said they’re still not sure — the same share as the overall sample. This suggests manufacturing leaders are not fully decided so much as more motivated (perhaps financially?) to keep open their refund option.

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