Wednesday, May 10, 2023, at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) headquarters in Washington, DC.
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection told an International Trade Court judge on Friday that it cannot currently comply with President Donald Trump’s order to begin refunding reciprocal tariffs imposed last year, which the Supreme Court recently ruled illegal.
In the same court filing, CBP told Judge Richard Eaton that as of Wednesday, the total amount of so-called IEEPA duties it had collected and the estimated customs duties associated with those duties was “approximately $166 billion.”
The filing comes as Eaton is scheduled to hold a hearing on the refund issue at the International Trade Court in New York City. Eaton is the only CIT judge appointed to hear importers’ lawsuits seeking refunds for President Trump’s tariffs.
As of Wednesday, more than 330,000 importers had conducted transactions totaling more than $53 million, Brandon Lord, executive director of CBP’s Trade Programs Directorate, said in a filing.
Entries that “deposited or paid duties imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.”
Eaton on Wednesday ordered CPB to calculate the cost of bringing cargo into the U.S. without assessing duties and directed the agency to refund with interest to importers who paid IEEPA duties.
“Customs knows how to do that,” Eaton said during Wednesday’s court hearing. “They’re doing it every day. Clearing entries and issuing refunds.”
A number of importers are suing the Trump administration, seeking restitution of duties they have paid since last year that are deemed illegal.
Eaton’s refund order, issued in a lawsuit brought by one of these importers, Atmas Filtration, applies to all duties paid in connection with IEEPA duties.
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