Your U.S. buyer receives a tariff refund. You previously reduced your price to help cover that tariff. Does the buyer now owe you money?

That question deserves a contract review before a demand letter.

A headline about the U.S. subsidiary of Zhejiang-based CFMOTO receiving tariff refunds has an obvious appeal to Chinese exporters. But another company's receipt does not establish your eligibility—or your right to a share of your buyer's refund.

I would separate the review into two tracks.

The customs track concerns the refund basis, the relevant import records, the applicant and the available procedure. U.S. counsel should confirm those matters under current law.

The commercial track concerns what the buyer and supplier actually agreed.

A temporary contribution subject to reconciliation is different from an agreed fixed price reduction. A deduction labelled “tariff support” may be useful evidence, but it still needs to be read alongside the contract, purchase order and correspondence.

My cross-border e-commerce experience makes me pay particular attention to revised quotations. The economic bargain can be difficult to understand if you read only the signed master agreement.

Before discussing a number with your buyer, establish:

• Whether a refund has actually been received.
• Which import records and purchase orders it covers.
• How the original tariff cost was allocated.
• What the agreement says about adjustments and expenses.

These are information requests, not assumptions that a debt already exists.

For future orders, the tariff discussion should cover both directions: additional cost and subsequent recovery. Define notice, supporting records and reconciliation, including how agreed expenses will be treated.

As a cross-border lawyer, I want the legal review to connect to a transaction the finance team can identify. A broad statement that “we absorbed the tariffs” is a starting point for investigation, not a completed calculation.

Start with one documented deduction and its purchase order. If you need help understanding the China-side contract and coordinating the U.S. review, send a redacted summary through wzklaw.com.

#CrossBorderLaw #InternationalTrade #Tariffs #ContractManagement

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Mike Wu, China-licensed Attorney · Cross-border practice
4 languages (CN/EN/ES/JA)
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