A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency official is set to testify in federal court Tuesday about the U.S. government’s plans for refunding billions of dollars that importers paid before the Supreme Court ruled that President Donald Trump illegally imposed certain tariffs on goods from most other countries.
Court of International Trade Judge Richard Eaton said he wanted to hear details that would help him decide whether to order the government to speed up and expand its system for issuing tariff refunds. The Justice Department subsequently appealed an earlier order by Eaton to make all businesses that paid the now-defunct import taxes eligible for refunds plus interest.
The Justice Department argued in a court document that only companies that were parties in any of the more than 2.500 lawsuits that challenged the tariffs were legally entitled to seek refunds.
With the dispute now in the hands of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Tuesday’s hearing in New York may provide more clarity about the next phase of the refund process.
First phase of tariff refunds is still ongoing
