Mike Harvey and the Badfish Surf Shop are applying for refunds on tariffs paid for Chinese imports after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the taxes unconstitutional.
Co-founder of the Badfish Surf Shop , Mike Harvey, inside the shop in Salida on Friday, May 1, 2026. Mike Harvey has made a thriving business out of making surfboards to ride whitewater stretches of the Arkansas River.
The Salida man is now among Colorado entrepreneurs navigating the choppy waters of seeking refunds on tariffs declared illegal. He and his two partners inhired a broker to apply for refunds for the tariffs the company paid on surfboards, bodyboards, inflatable stand-up paddleboards and other items manufactured in China.
From Walmart to automakers to Main Street businesses such as the Badfish surf shop, companies across the county started submitting records and invoices when the U.S. Customs and Border Protection claims portal went live April 20.tariffs the U.S. Supreme Court struck down in February.
“We’re definitely going to try to figure it out,” he added. “But it’s just hard for me to imagine that they’re just going to easily offer up refunds for all of us. I don’t place a ton of hope on refunds. ”levied by the Trump administration under a law allowing the president to regulate international commerce in a national emergency.
The Supreme Court said the tariffs enforced against numerous countries were unconstitutional.ordered the Trump administration to set up a process for businesses to recoup an estimated $166 billion in taxes paid under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA.the highest level in more than a century, Colorado State Treasurer Dave Young said in April. He said Colorado businesses paid $1.1 billion in tariffs in 2025.
Badfish, which started in 2010, faced higher tariffs during the first Trump administration when levies on imports from China were raised. The Biden administration didn’t lower those.as a trade war erupted. A ship carrying Badfish’s products was headed to the U.S. “when Trump did his whole escalation thing with China,” said Harvey, a co-founder of the company.
“We had a container which effectively we didn’t make any money on last year because of the tariffs,” he said. Harvey said although one of the reasons given for tariffs was to stimulate domestic manufacturing, the cost of producing goods in the U.S. is insurmountable for companies like his. He views tariffs as unfair taxes on small businesses that adapted as manufacturing shifted offshore.
“That global economy enabled two guys who didn’t have very much money to start a business in a garage in Salida and sell products all over the place, out of this little town in Colorado,” Harvey said. Co-founders of the Badfish Surf Shop, Zach Hughes, left, and Mike Harvey, right, along with store manager, Laura Patterson, chat at the shop in Salida on Friday, May 1, 2026.
a high-end women’s outdoor and lifestyle apparel company, plans to apply for a refund. But first, it has to correct how it’s listed in the database.
“We are set up for some reason as an exporter only instead of both an importer and an exporter,” said Gail Ross, Krimson Klover’s chief operating officer. The company has tried for several weeks to correct the information with no luck. Ross was going to contact Krimson Klover’s attorney for ideas. The company was paying a 37.5% tariff on its clothes manufactured in China.
As with many small businesses, the higher tariffs forcedAnd even if Krimson Klover receives a refund, Ross doesn’t know what to expect next. Trump imposed a temporary, across-the-board 10% duty that Congress would have to approve after 150 days.that allows tariffs against countries for unreasonable or discriminatory trade practices. The administration has said it’s opening investigations into other countries.
“We believe that the president remains as committed to his tariff strategy today as he was when he entered office, and that small businesses are unlikely to see a significant drop in tariff rates during the Trump Administration without an act of Congress that defies the president’s wishes,” Ben Johnston, chief operating officer ofWhile the future of tariffs remains unclear, the prospect of reimbursement for past tariffs is a little more solid for Denver-based, which has produced commercial ice machines for more than 70 years. The company applied for a refund two days after the claims portal opened, said Kevin Walker, Ice-O-Matic’s strategic sourcing manager.
Ice-O-Matic uses materials produced in the U.S. and in other countries: China, Canada, India and the Middle East. Walker said the kinds of tariffs levied on the various countries and the rates changed quickly over the last year, making it a challenge to keep up with the latest numbers. The system to apply for refunds was busy the first two days.
After that, Walker said he was able to pull a report he needed, figure out which tariffs were affected by the court ruling and upload the information. The refunds will be transferred electronically to recipients’ bank accounts.
“They gave approval right away that the information was correct and that they did accept it,” Walker said. “I would never say it’s 100%, but it feels at least like we’re at a good point of having the chance to get that money back. ” Walker has heard refunds might start hitting people’s accounts in 60 to 90 days.
“But then I’ve heard other estimates where it could be as early as May 11. ”“We’re supporting our clients with multiple, different sources of data, trying to help them consolidate their import data, go through it, see what is eligible, what is not eligible,” said Kate Rayer, vice president of regulatory services at Green Worldwide.
“I think a lot of the smaller companies are the ones who have been needing the most help because they don’t generally have in-house resources,” she said. So far, Rayer has been impressed with the process set up by Customs and Border Protection, or CBP.
“I was very pleasantly surprised at the system they stood up because it does enable this mass processing. ” Co-founder of the Badfish Surf Shop, Mike Harvey, right, and manager Laura Patterson go over hat inventory inside the shop in Salida on Friday, May 1, 2026. , a travel-gear company based in Steamboat Springs, has filed for a refund.
The company, which largely manufactures its goods in Indonesia, estimates it could be due close to a half million dollars.
“I’m reasonably optimistic that we’re going to see the refunds that we’re owed,” said Travis Campbell, Eagle Creek owner and CEO. “They essentially hit the timelines that they laid out for developing the system and the system appears to be working.
”Weekly US jobless claims fall to 189,000, lowest in more than 5 decadesUS consumer confidence inches higher in the face of soaring gasoline prices Campbell said he understands why customers want to be reimbursed for the higher prices passed on by suppliers and importers.
“As a consumer who’s been obligated to pay higher prices because of these tariffs, I understand the sentiment. As a business person, though, I also understand the complexity,” Campbell said. Eagle Creek absorbed the tariff-related costs for all of 2025, Campbell said. He believes it would be difficult to draw a direct line from the tariff to the price paid by the consumer.
What’s also difficult for Campbell to calculate is the overall impact of the tariffs on his business. Plans were upended. The company’s profits dropped. Employees were laid off.
“There were so many negative repercussions beyond just the cost of the tariffs,” Campbell said. “It’s going to take us years to come to terms with all of the impacts. ”Passenger train hits tanker truck in western Colorado, spilling 6,000 gallons of oilEastbound I-70 reopens in Colorado mountains near VailKeeler: Avalanche, Nathan MacKinnon expose Minnesota Wild as Temu tough guys — and this Stanley Cup series is over5-year-old found alive 30 hours after Colorado crash kills 2 adults
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