When Richard Brown saw the court decision on his phone, he was so stunned he walked past the bagel shop exit and later couldn’t find his car in the lot. The Supreme Court had tossed out most of the tariffs imposed under the Trump administration — duties that businesses like Brown’s had been paying for nearly a year. His immediate questions: How would U.S. Customs return money it had no right to keep? When would he get it back?
Brown kept an audio diary of his efforts and gave it to NPR. His story highlights a growing concern among trade experts: many smaller importers may never reclaim the billions the government promised to return.
“I didn’t realize that the person gave me my bagel, that I could leave, I forgot how doors functioned,” he recorded the day of the ruling. “This is a win… I am elated. I can’t wait—this is going to be a hot mess.”
Within hours, officials warned refunds would be complicated and slow. Large firms such as Costco and Revlon immediately sued to secure refunds; many other companies hired lawyers or customs brokers. Proof Culture, the small Ohio company Brown runs with a friend and occasional help from his father, had none of that infrastructure. They sell sneaker accessories — laces, cedar shoe trees, storage boxes and crease protectors — and only began importing three years ago.
They estimate Customs owes them as much as $25,000 in refund claims. That isn’t a life-changing sum for Brown, but it equaled roughly 10 percent of Proof Culture’s revenue last year — money that would buy inventory and advertising.
Like many small importers, Brown relied on forwarders and suppliers to handle logistics and paperwork. He paid invoices and accepted shipments; he did not track every customs entry. After the ruling that changed, that passive approach no longer worked. Brown spent weeks digitizing old purchase orders, cobbling together a rudimentary AI to match shipping invoices, and calling Chinese freight agents when documents were missing.
The situation was further muddied when the administration quickly imposed replacement tariffs justified under different legal grounds, and incoming shipments carried shifting fee designations. In early March, Customs said it would create an online portal so importers could file refund claims without suing. That removed the immediate need for litigation but shifted the burden onto companies unfamiliar with customs systems.
“We’re not equipped to deal with this,” Brown said in his recording. “It is a shame that the government recognizes that they’re not equipped to deal with it to the extent that they’re now passing it on to us. This wasn’t my problem. And now you’re telling me if I want my money back, figure it out. That sucks.”
Customs told a court the portal would be ready and capable of handling most refunds, but that rested on the assumption that importers could quickly assemble and submit correct claims. In practice, more than two-thirds of importers were unprepared. When the portal opened on April 20, NPR and others reported many small businesses encountered technical failures, trouble logging in, and long hold times with no response from agency staff. Some firms filed claims in minutes; others still haven’t.
Trade analysts warned a mostly manual, non-automated process could leave many claimants behind. Researchers at the Cato Institute warned that, “intentionally or not, the federal government will likely keep tens of billions of dollars it should have returned to importers months ago.” Customs later said that within about a week of opening the window it had rejected more than one-third of submitted claims for technical or data errors; filers can correct and resubmit. As of April 26, the agency reported it had accepted claims for roughly one-fifth of the shipments eligible for refunds.
For tiny companies, every dollar matters. Brown and his partner Erron Combs are still preparing their filing, but working on the claim competes with taxes, family responsibilities and the day-to-day tasks required to keep the business running.
“I can’t chase every fire,” Brown says. “Right now, I feel like a firefighter.”