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U.S. Customs and Border Protection has cleared $35.5 billion in tariff refunds for importers since launching an online portal last month to process claims stemming from the Supreme Court's ruling that struck down President Donald Trump's signature trade policy, according to a new court filing.
Brandon Lord, CBP's executive director of trade programs, said the payments cover more than 8 million import entries and carry interest on the duties that were originally collected. The agency's Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries portal — known as CAPE — went live on April 20 and had received roughly 126,000 declarations by May 11, of which nearly 87,000 had passed validation and been forwarded to the Treasury Department for payment. The filing noted that payment on roughly 1,880 consolidated refunds remained on hold, with no bank account information on file for those importers.
The refunds cover duties collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA. In a 6-3 decision handed down Feb. 20, the Supreme Court found that Trump's use of IEEPA as a vehicle for tariff collection exceeded the statute's authority. Because the ruling said nothing about reimbursement, the question of how refunds would be structured fell to the lower courts.
