Cargo containers are staged near cranes at the Port of Tacoma in Washington. Ted S. Warren/AP
U.S. Customs and Border Protection says it’s developing a system to deliver tariff refunds and hopes it will be ready within 45 days.
After the Supreme Court struck down many of President Trump’s tariffs last month, companies that paid those import taxes have been waiting to learn when and how they’d receive refunds. Many small-business owners feared they’d need to file individual lawsuits to get their money back, a concern fueled by statements from Trump and other administration officials suggesting the refund process could become mired in litigation.
On Friday, CBP told the U.S. Court of International Trade that its current computer system cannot immediately handle a large volume of refunds, but the agency is working on a streamlined process that would not require importers to bring individual lawsuits. Officials said they expect to use the same electronic portal importers already use to track or correct customs filings.
The government estimates it collected about $166 billion from more than 330,000 businesses in tariffs that the Supreme Court has now declared unconstitutional.
“The law is clear,” Judge Richard Eaton of the Court of International Trade said. “The duties were unlawful from the moment they were imposed. And that means that every single cent must be returned to the importer.”
Eaton ordered U.S. Customs to begin refunding tariffs immediately and with interest, and he asked the agency to provide an update. Earlier this week, an appeals court denied a Justice Department request to pause the refund process for 90 days. During the Supreme Court litigation, the Justice Department repeatedly assured that if the tariffs were struck down, the money would be returned — an assurance the government used to justify continuing to collect the tariffs for months after a lower court found them illegal last May.
“They said, ‘There is no harm, because we can always refund the money.’ And they even included ‘with interest,'” said Sara Albrecht, head of the Liberty Justice Center, which took the tariff case to the Supreme Court. “To me it’s pretty clear that they don’t have a lot of room to argue that they can’t pay refunds.”
