Less than two months after the Trump administration rolled out its electronic tariff refund platform, it is now threatening to bring the operation to a standstill.
The administration said on Friday it plans to appeal a federal judge’s order that allowed all U.S. importers the ability to seek tariff refunds, not just those who sued the administration. The Supreme Court struck down tariffs President Donald Trump imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) in February, ruling the imposition of the tariffs exceeded the president’s powers.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) rolled out the refund process, also known as the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE), in April, creating an online portal through which importers could apply for their slice of the $166 billion in available refunds. According to a CBP court filing from May 26, CAPE has accepted for processing $85 billion in potential and certified refunds, including $20.6 billion sent to the U.S. Treasury Department for disbursement as of May 22. CBP did not disclose in the filing how many entities would receive those disbursements.
The Department of Justice argued in a court filing that Judge Richard K. Eaton exceeded his authority in ordering universal refunds, and that the government cannot issue refunds for importers that have already completed the “liquidation” process, or when CBP finalized the amount of money owed to an entity—unless that applicant sued to recover money it paid in illegal tariffs.
