In February of final yr, the US Supreme Court docket upheld decrease court docket rulings that discovered the Trump administration’s IEEPA-based tariffs invalid. 

The US Court docket of Worldwide Commerce (CIT) then ordered US Customs and Border Safety (CBP) to start issuing refunds on the roughly $166 billion in IEEPA tariffs collected since early 2025. CBP has began that course of, however could problem whether or not the court docket’s order applies to liquidated customs entries – entries which have already been finalized – which account for roughly half of all IEEPA duties. 

Key Insights

• US Customs and Border Safety has begun processing refunds for about half of all paid IEEPA tariffs, however the White Home could problem the validity of the court docket order for the remainder.

• The important thing situation is liquidation: CBP says it might refund entries that aren’t but liquidated, however wants a separate, particular court docket order for every already-liquidated entry in an effort to refund duties on these shipments.

• Authorized proceedings on this subject might imply it will likely be some time earlier than the problem is resolved and refunds for these entries proceed.
• If the federal government’s place is upheld, importers with liquidated entries could must sue the federal government in commerce court docket in an effort to obtain a refund.

• Some specialists are advising importers to trace the timelines of their liquidated entries and file protests earlier than protest home windows shut due to these ongoing issues.

Refunds underway –  for some

In April, the CBP opened a portal to begin processing refund claims, however the White Home is now objecting to issuing refunds for about half of all IEEPA imports. 

Importers file customs entries when their items arrive within the US, estimating the duties owed , often with the assistance of a customs dealer. These duties are sometimes paid earlier than or shortly after CBP clears the cargo. 

However earlier than the entry is taken into account closing, the CBP should evaluation and ensure or modify the accuracy of the duties paid by means of a course of known as liquidation.  Liquidation can happen as much as 314 days after entry, at which level CBP both confirms that the right amount was paid, points a refund if duties had been overpaid, or payments the importer if duties had been underpaid.

Final week, the Trump administration responded to an IEEPA-related order from the CIT asking CBP to clarify why extra progress had not been made on refunds. In its submitting, the administration mentioned that CBP is complying with the court docket’s directions and is already refunding duties for entries that haven’t but been liquidated, or that had been liquidated just lately. These entries account for greater than half of all IEEPA tariffs paid.  

Liquidated entries are extra difficult, for now

However the identical submitting revealed plans to problem the court docket’s authority to use its refund mandate to the remaining half of the $166B IEEPA duties – entries which have already been liquidated. The administration will argue that the CBP shouldn’t be licensed to reliquidate an entry with out an entry-specific court docket order. 

Underneath this strategy, CBP would solely have the ability to situation refunds for liquidated entries belonging to the plaintiffs within the unique CIT case, or to different importers that sue the federal government and acquire a court docket order directing CBP to reliquidate their entries. 

The federal government has to submit a short on the subject by June 4th, and has till June sixth to file this attraction. These developments imply many importers with liquidated entries who anticipated a refund could face new obstacles, or on the very least an extended and doubtlessly bumpy authorized highway earlier than receiving one. 

Within the meantime, some commerce legislation specialists are advising importers to maintain observe of the timeline for his or her liquidated entries, even when they’ve already submitted a declare for an IEEPA refund, and file protests for these entries earlier than the protest window closes. 

We’ll proceed posting updates on these developments. Keep tuned.