The Trump administration said refunds of tariffs struck down by the US supreme court “will take time”, according to court documents filed by the Department of Justice.

Businesses including FedEx have lined up to demand reimbursement for US tariffs they have paid but that the court last week deemed were imposed illegally, prompting heavy criticism from Donald Trump.

The justice department did not say it plans to ask the supreme court to rehear the case, despite Trump’s comments earlier on Friday. Claiming that refunds could ultimately cost hundreds of billions of dollars, the president wrote: “I am sure that the supreme court did not have this in mind!”