U.S. companies are starting to pepper freight specialists and trade lawyers with questions about whether and when they might be eligible for tariff refunds that could add up to tens of billions of dollars.

The Trump administration last week asked the Supreme Court to quickly hear its appeal of a lower court ruling rejecting the president’s global tariffs. The WSJ Logistics Report’s Paul Berger writes that it isn’t clear how the court could rule, but importers are seeking out ways to claw their tariff spending back if it strikes down the duties Trump imposed under emergency powers.

If the court upholds the lower court’s decision, the government could proactively refund tariffs, possibly limiting paybacks to plaintiffs named in the trade case, one trade lawyer says. The most likely scenario would be for the government to create an administrative process for firms to apply for repayment, he added.

• Some European firms are halting exports to the U.S., complaining about new bureaucratic hurdles after the expansion of 50% metals tariffs to hundreds of additional products. (WSJ)
• With trade negotiations between China and the U.S. showing little progress, Beijing is taking a new stance: Keep talking, but yield little. (WSJ)
• The FBI is investigating a scheme to spy on trade groups using fake emails from the chair of the House China committee. (WSJ)
• Canada introduced measures to aid industries under pressure from Trump’s sectoral tariffs as the Liberal government tries to reverse a slowdown in economic activity. (WSJ)
• Trump moved to exempt graphite, tungsten, uranium, gold bullion and other metals from country-based tariffs. (Bloomberg)
• The White House plans to restrict or possibly bar imports of Chinese drones and medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. (Reuters)
• The United Auto Workers union urged the secretary of commerce to impose tariffs on makers of medium- and heavy-duty trucks to compel them to relocate production to the U.S. (Transport Topics)

South Korean citizens detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai Motor plant in Georgia are expected to return home on a voluntary basis and avoid deportation, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said.

South Korea hopes to get its roughly 300 detained citizens on a chartered plane back to the country on Wednesday, a Korean diplomat in Washington said. South Korea’s foreign minister was set to depart for the U.S. Monday to secure the detainees’ release, the ministry said.

On Sunday, the South Korean president’s office said the U.S. and South Korea have reached a deal for the release of those detained in the raid last Thursday. It was the largest single-site enforcement operation in the history of Homeland Security Investigations. 

Amazon on Oct. 1 will end a program allowing millions of U.S. households to share the Prime free-shipping benefit with friends and family. The Journal’s Ann-Marie Alcántara writes that the e-commerce giant is aiming to turn sharers into full Prime members.

Prime Invitee was open from 2009 to 2015, allowing Prime members to share their free-shipping benefit with up to four adults, anywhere in the U.S., who could use it while shopping with their own accounts. When it stopped accepting new members in 2015, those already participating could continue to benefit from the free shipping.

U.S. employment growth continued to slow in August, with just 22,000 new jobs. (WSJ)

The eurozone economy grew 0.1% in the second quarter, a slowdown from the prior quarter’s 0.6% expansion. (WSJ)

Canada unexpectedly shed a net 65,500 jobs in August, the steepest decline since the start of 2022. (WSJ)

German factory orders fell 2.9% in July, defying expectations of a 0.7% rise, marking the largest drop since January. (WSJ)

U.K. retail sales increased at the start of the third quarter, with volumes rising 0.6% in July from the previous month. (WSJ)

China will impose antidumping duties on pork imports from the EU, ranging from 15.6% to 62.4%, starting Wednesday. (WSJ)

Canada is pausing its EV-sales mandate, set to start next year, due to financial strain on the auto sector from U.S. tariffs. (WSJ)

Air Canada flight attendants rejected a tentative labor deal reached last month, sending the dispute into mediation and possibly arbitration. (WSJ)

Tesla’s board is asking investors to approve a new pay package for Elon Musk that could deliver to him as much as $1 trillion in stock over 10 years. (WSJ)

Warehouse robotics company Geekplus is considering a second listing in China, a few months after going public in Hong Kong. (WSJ)

Venture-capital investments totalling $129 million in Augment and Happy Robot represent the bet investors are making on AI in the logistics industry. (Journal of Commerce)

The new CEO of Stellantis urged the EU to rescue the region’s car industry. (Bloomberg)

Chinese upstart carrier Chenxin Shipping ordered up to eight containerships, using windfall profits from disruption in the Red Sea to shift toward fleet ownership. (Lloyd’s List)

A Mumbai container port-terminal expansion was completed, making it India’s largest. (The Maritime Executive)

The American Chemistry Council will oppose the proposed merger of Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern unless it is shown to enhance competition. (TrainsPRO)

Austal USA and Master Boat Builders signed an agreement to help regional shipyards take on large, complex U.S. government programs. (gCaptain)

The U.S. Department of Labor will spend up to $8 million to fund overseas training of U.S. workers to learn advanced shipbuilding skills. (Workboat)

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries restarted production at an expanded shipyard owned by Cerberus Capital Management on Subic Bay in the Philippines. (USNI News)

Mark R. Long is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at mark.long@wsj.com.

Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team on LinkedIn: Mark R. Long, Liz Young and Paul Berger.