US Supreme Court Approves $35.5B Tariff Refunds for Importers
The Trump administration is currently engaged in the disbursement of over $35.5 billion to importers who have successfully submitted claims for tariff refunds, following a ruling by the US Supreme Court that deemed the president’s key economic policy unlawful, as indicated in a recent court filing. The payments are currently being processed via a newly established online government portal, which will encompass interest on duties paid across over 8 million import entries, according to Brandon Lord, executive director of trade programs for the Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Trade.
As of May 11, the instrument established to manage claims on the $166 billion in duties that were annulled had authenticated nearly 87,000 declarations it had received to date, facilitating the Treasury Department’s ability to disburse payments to those importers. Since the launch of the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries, or CAPE, on April 20, a total of approximately 126,000 declarations have been received, according to Lord. The rush for refunds commenced promptly following the Supreme Court’s ruling on February 20, which determined that President Donald Trump had unlawfully invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs on imported goods.
The court’s 6-3 ruling did not tackle the issue of refunds, delegating that matter to the lower courts for resolution. To date, over 8.3 million of the accepted entries have undergone reprocessing to eliminate IEEPA duties. The court filing indicated that 1,880 consolidated refunds remain unprocessed for Treasury due to the importer’s failure to supply bank account information. At a closed court hearing on Tuesday, Rodney Scott addressed the refund process, with the agency being directed to submit another update by May 26, as per an order issued by Judge Richard Eaton of the US Court of International Trade. Eaton indicated that there was a discourse concerning CAPE’s “subsequent functionality,” and the court was informed that CBP is engaging with surety companies regarding their refund claims.
It’s previously indicated in court documents that the initial phase will not accommodate claims for over one-third of the relevant import entries. The remaining entries present more intricate circumstances, and Customs officials have not delineated a timeline for the implementation of subsequent phases of the refund program. Payments for certain initial refund requests began to arrive for importers early last week, ahead of projections.
