US government to issue $20.6 billion in tariff refunds to importers
Approximately $20.6 billion is set to be allocated to importers who successfully submitted claims via the newly established web portal by US Customs and Border Protection, as indicated in a court filing on Tuesday. However, the government’s latest declaration to the US Court of International Trade also included an admission of a significant error in its last report to the federal judge overseeing the tariff refund process, indicating that the value of the refunds being processed in the early weeks of the program was considerably lower than previously estimated.
Two weeks ago, a US trade official indicated that over $35.5 billion in refund claims were under processing. Yet that figure “was overstated by approximately $10 billion,” according to Brandon Lord. The actual amount was approximately $25 billion.“This was not a reflection of any error in CAPE processing or refunds, but rather was the result of an inadvertent error in the data query used to calculate the figure,” said Lord, referring to the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries, which was developed following the Supreme Court’s decision that overturned a large swath of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Approximately $85 billion in both potential and certified refunds have been accepted for processing in CAPE as of May 22, he wrote.
The 20.6 billion figure reflects money that has reached the final stage of being disbursed to importers. Lord stated that the figure encompasses both interest and the principal amount in tariffs; however, a detailed breakdown of these components was not provided. CBP is currently engaged in the issuance of refunds to importers who have disbursed up to $166 billion across over 53 million import entries. The initiative is under the supervision of the Court of International Trade, which has solicited periodic updates from the agency.
As per the update released on Tuesday, close to 16 million entries subject to duties under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, or IEEPA, were accepted during the initial phase of the refund initiative. Of these, 8.5 million entries have been reprocessed, eliminating the duties and certified for repayment to importers. Lord also noted in the filing Tuesday that over 4,000 consolidated refund payments remain unprocessed by the Treasury Department due to importers’ lack of established digital payment capabilities.
