The US government owes importers roughly $166 billion. A federal judge would really like the Trump administration to stop dragging its feet on paying up.
Judge Richard Eaton of the US Court of International Trade has urged the administration to withdraw its appeal of a sweeping tariff refund order, warning that continued litigation risks delaying repayments to hundreds of thousands of American businesses. The refunds stem from the Supreme Court’s February 20, 2026 ruling that tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) were unlawful.
What happened and why it matters
The Trump administration used IEEPA as the legal basis for sweeping tariffs on imported goods. The Supreme Court ruled the tariffs unlawful earlier this year.
Judge Eaton subsequently ordered universal refunds for all importers of record, not just the handful of companies that had filed lawsuits challenging the tariffs. The scope is staggering: more than 330,000 importers, 53 million individual customs entries, and an estimated $166 billion in refunds plus interest.
