This interview was originally published by Berns & Co.
The Supreme Court’s closely watched ruling that President Donald Trump’s IEEPA tariffs are illegal sent shockwaves through financial markets on Friday, and a wave of cautious optimism through the retail industry. For brands and operators who spent the past year scrambling to reroute supply chains, reprice products and protect margins, the decision raises an urgent question: now what?
We caught up with Omair Tariq, Founder and CEO of Cart.com, a Houston-based commerce services provider, to cut through the noise and get a ground-level read on what this ruling really means for brands operationally, financially and strategically.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Q: Is the IEEPA tariff ruling a win or a loss for retailers?
Omair Tariq: Net-net, it’s a significant win for retailers. The Supreme Court’s ruling opens the door to an estimated $175 billion in potential refunds owed back to U.S. retailers and businesses. That’s real capital they can redeploy into advertising, technology and brand-building. And here’s what people forget: roughly 86% of tariff costs were ultimately absorbed by U.S. consumers and businesses — not foreign manufacturers. So the pain was real, and reversing it matters.
Q: Have retailers already crossed a point of no return on supply chain diversification?
OT: The long-term lesson companies have learned is that they shouldn’t source everything from one country. We’ve seen trade friction with various nations across multiple administrations, so some diversification is just smart hedging. That said, retailers are unlikely to permanently abandon the cheapest sourcing options available to them. They’ll diversify at the margins, but cost still wins in the long run — and most won’t get caught flat-footed the same way again.
Q: For brands that raised prices ahead of sustained tariffs, what should they be thinking about now?
OT: Prices rarely go back down by choice. Many brands raised prices 10–20% and saw zero impact to sales, which tells you something important about their customer base and product positioning. Those brands may simply hold prices and bank the margin improvement. But there will always be one competitor who blinks first and cuts prices to win back conversion and that tends to pull everyone else down. In the end, the real winner here might actually be the consumer.
Q: How should brands plan when tariff policy can shift every few months?
OT: The tariffs themselves are painful but the volatility and unpredictability are far more damaging to retail operations. The smartest posture right now is to stay put. Watch what happens with the administration’s new legal mechanism to reimpose 10% global tariffs, and watch how the refund process unfolds. Don’t make wholesale changes to pricing or manufacturing just yet. A cautious, wait-and-see approach is more valuable than a fast reaction you’ll have to undo in three weeks.
Q: Does retail technology infrastructure affect how well brands can respond to tariff changes?
OT: Yes, and the gap between modern and legacy operators is going to widen. Retailers that have invested in modern infrastructure, smarter sourcing programs and nimble order routing can flip a switch and move production back to the most cost-effective economies now that tariff pressure has eased. For them, this ruling is a genuine tailwind. But brands still reliant on manual processes and heavy operational lifts? By the time they’ve worked through the transition, the policy landscape may have shifted again. Modern tech isn’t just an efficiency play; right now, it’s a competitive moat.
Q: What’s the first operational lever a mid-market retailer should pull right now?
OT: Pursue the refund immediately. That’s cash that is legally owed, and any mechanism that can help advance those refunds deserves serious consideration. After that, take a breath. Overreacting — and then having to course-correct when something shifts in a month — is expensive and exhausting. Get the money, then watch how the next couple of quarters play out before making major strategic moves.