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The deadline is fast approaching for eligible Amazon Prime subscribers to file a claim to receive a portion of a historic $2.5 billion settlement the company reached with the Federal Trade Commission.

Amazon agreed to the deal last September to settle a lawsuit over allegations that “millions of customers into “unknowingly” enrolling in its paid Amazon Prime service and then made the subscriptions difficult to cancel. 

The settlement requires Amazon to stop those alleged practices and pay heft fines—as well as offering “full relief for the estimated 35 million consumers impacted by unwanted Prime enrollment or deferred cancellation.”

Amazon has denied any wrong-doing. 

"Amazon and our executives have always followed the law and this settlement allows us to move forward and focus on innovating for customers,” the company said in a statement following the settlement announcement. “We work incredibly hard to make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up or cancel their Prime membership, and to offer substantial value for our many millions of loyal Prime members around the world.”

The deadline for submitting a claim for compensation under the settlement is July 27.

Here’s how to know if you’re eligible for a portion of the settlement, and how to file a claim. 

Who's eligible?

To be eligible for a refund under the settlement, you must be an AmazonPrime customer in the U.S. who “unintentionally” signed up for the service through a “challenged enrollment flow” or attempted to cancel your subscription but were unable to between June 23, 2019, and June 23, 2025. 

According to the FTC, the challenged enrollment flows include the universal Amazon Prime decision page, shipping selection page, single page checkout, and the Prime Video enrollment flow. The agency noted that customers do not have to determine for themselves whether they signed up for Prime through one of those flows; Amazon will make that determination.

You are also only eligible for the settlement if you have used no more than three of Prime’s benefits, such as Prime Video or Prime Music, within any 12-month period after you enrolled in the service.

How to submit a claim

Eligible Amazon customers should have received a notice to file their claim by email or mail, according to the settlement website. 

Using a “Claim ID and PIN” included in the notice they received, customers can also access their claim form via the settlement website. There is also an option to file a claim through the website without those details contained in the notice. 

The claim form asks customers to provide their name, current address, and zip code, and to specify whether they were "unintentionally enrolled” in Prime or were unable to cancel during the designated time period. 

No documents are required to answer those questions, nor to prove whether you used Prime benefits during a 12-month period. 

Unlike private settlements, customers do not have the option to opt-out of government settlements like this one. 

The website advises customers to contact admin@SubscriptionMembershipSettlement.com for further support. 

How much compensation will claimants receive?

Eligible Prime customers will get a refund of their Prime fees, up to a maximum of $51.

Amazon expects to send out payments in late 2026.

Officials around the world are pushing back on the claims of “forced labor” the Trump Administration has cited to impose sweeping new tariffs on over 80 countries.

The import duties, which will affect 60 economies and take effect on Friday, represent President Donald Trump’s latest effort to impose alternative tariffs on goods coming into the U.S. after the Supreme Court earlier this year struck down most of those he had put in place.

In a Thursday announcement, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said the new tariffs of between 10% and 12.5% were being levied against dozens of countries “for their failure to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor.”

Read More: Trump’s New Tariffs on Over 80 Countries, Explained

“The United States has had a forced labor import ban for nearly a century, and rigorously enforces it; it’s well past time for our trading partners to do the same,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement. “Today’s action will begin to correct what is both a human rights abuse and distortive trade practice to improve the welfare of workers everywhere.”

The U.S. Tariff Act of 1930 prohibits importing goods whose production involved forced labor. Trump imposed the tariffs under Section 301 of the law, which allows for sanctions on countries that have engaged in trade practices that are “unreasonable or discriminatory and burdens or restricts United States commerce.”

Among the expansive group of countries that will be affected by the new tariffs are some of the U.S.’s closest allies and most major trading partners. Collectively, they account for roughly 99.4% of U.S. imports, according to a USTR factsheet.

Officials from a number of the impacted nations objected to the stated rationale for the tariffs, expressing a mix of disappointment, anger, and confusion.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon called the 12.5% tariffs on his country  “extremely disappointing.”

“The US investigation did not provide meaningful evidence to support claims in relation to forced labour,” Luxon wrote on X. “Tariffs are not the way - they drive up costs and uncertainty for businesses.”

Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell likewise called the tariffs “completely unjustified” and vowed, while speaking to reporters, to continue pushing for the removal of “all tariffs on Australian goods.”

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara also protested the tariffs.

“It is regrettable that the measure imposes tariffs on the grounds of non-existence of measures banning imports of goods made by forced labor, even though Japan’s industry and trade are in line with international rules,” Kihara said at a press conference.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated its stance that it “opposes all forms of unilateral tariffs.”

“Tariff wars and trade wars do not serve any parties’ interests,” ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a press conference.

Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said "We are firmly opposed to the United States's unilateral use of customs duties against Norway and other countries.”

Brazil, striking the same chord, said that the tariffs were “arbitrary” and “unjustified.”

"Lacking a legal basis under domestic law to support its protectionist ​trade policy, the U.S. Trade Representative chose ​to manipulate an issue of great importance to ⁠human rights and workers' rights movement," the Brazilian government said in a statement. 

The majority of the affected countries were assigned a 12.5% rate for the new tariffs.

However, imports will be taxed at a slightly lower 10% rate for a group of 17 economies that the USTR in its fact sheet described as having “made commitments to adopt, and effectively enforce, forced labor import prohibitions.” Within that group of countries are Canada, India, Mexico, and the U.K., among others.

Officials from several of those countries offered more muted responses to the new levies, though they continued to note their opposition to Trump’s aggressive tariff approach.

Canadian Minister of Internal Trade Dominic LeBlanc, whose country Trump also hit with a separate 50% tariff hike earlier in the week, said the tariffs were “not unexpected,” since they came just as a 10% global tariff Trump previously imposed expired.

“Canada shares the United States’ objective of ensuring goods produced with forced labour do not enter our supply chains,” LeBlanc in a statement. 

He went on to stress, though, that “Canada has one of the world’s most robust frameworks to prevent and address forced labour, backed by strong legislative and enforcement measures.”

Mexico’s Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard similarly noted the timing of the new tariffs coinciding with the expiration of the others.

"One replaces the other, ​so tariff treatment is maintained,” Mexico's Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on social media. 

Bank of France Governor Emmanuel Moulin told BFM Business TV that Europe would likely see little change with the imposition of the new tariffs due to an agreement reached in July 2025 that set a cap on U.S. tariffs for most European Union goods at 15%.

"For Europe, it ought not to change much because we have the Turnberry agreement which should be ​respected by Donald Trump,” Moulin said. 

“But,” he added, “obviously it creates more uncertainty for world trade and clearly it's not favourable for growth.”

The British government also said that the new tariffs would have "no negative change" on its export economy. 

Other countries receiving the 10% tariff such as Malaysia, Cambodia, and Bangladesh stated that they were relieved or even pleased by the rate.

Former West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin is embarking on a new initiative: a project called the Independent Leadership Council.

The council—which the 78-year-old former senator is running with his daughter, Heather Manchin—will recruit and support independent candidates who are launching congressional bids. The former Senator launched the initiative at an event on Thursday, with several candidates in attendance, including California Rep. Kevin Kiley, who previously identified as a Republican but is now running a reelection campaign as an independent.

“We’re not trying to start another party,” Manchin told CNN in an interview that was published on Friday. “We’re trying to get a person who can be committed to—and totally committed to—being an independent with an independent voice. They can vote with Democrats and Republicans when they’re right and speak out against them when they’re wrong.”

The Manchins told CNN that if the council decides to support candidates, it will help them with campaigning, fundraising, and on-the-ground organizing. The Manchins were optimistic that, if their support can help a candidate win in the November midterms, then they might be able to have an impact on the 2028 presidential race.

“Our hope is that this is kind of our pilot, experiment, trying to prove it can be done,” Heather Manchin told CNN.

The council presents itself on its website as “an opportunity to fix politics.”

“America was founded on the belief that freedom and competition make us stronger. Somewhere along the way, our politics lost sight of those principles,” the website reads. “Decades of partisanship carved a divide most Americans never wanted. Instead of choosing sides, we’re changing the game by charting a new path that gives leaders the freedom to serve people, not parties.”

Manchin served in the Senate for more than a decade. For most of his political career, he was a centrist member of the Democratic Party. But he dropped that affiliation in 2024, shortly before the end of his time in the upper chamber, and re-registered as an independent. Even before he left the party, he frequently broke from his Democratic colleagues in his votes on various issues, including on climate change and tax hikes on the wealthy. He repeatedly criticized the Democratic Party, arguing that there wasn’t space for more conservative Democrats like him.

“Since becoming a United States senator in 2010, I have seen both the Democrat and Republican parties leave West Virginia and our country behind for partisan extremism while jeopardizing our democracy,” he said in a statement when he announced that he was switching his political affiliation. “Today, our national politics are broken and neither party is willing to compromise to find common ground. To stay true to myself and remain committed to put country before party, I have decided to register as an independent with no party affiliation and continue to fight for America’s sensible majority.”

Manchin’s renewed pushback against partisan politics now comes at a time when majorities of American adults “have an unfavorable view” of the Republican Party and Democratic Party, according to a Gallup poll released in May. And a record-high 45% of Americans identified as independents last year, Gallup polling released in January found.