U.S. officials said a system was being set up to mediate the payment of $166 billion in tariff costs to more than 330,000 importers.
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has announced that it will take an additional 45 days to create a system to process refund requests for tariffs recently reversed by the Supreme Court.
The announcement was made Friday as lawyers representing CBP were summoned to a closed session with Judge Richard Eaton of the U.S. Court of International Trade.
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Eaton ruled Wednesday that the U.S. government is obligated to refund importers who were slapped with tariffs under President Donald Trump’s invocation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
A February 20 Supreme Court ruling deemed President Trump’s invocation of the law illegal for his sweeping tariff campaign.
Brandon Lord, director of CBP’s trade policy program, suggested in a court filing (PDF) on Friday that CBP cannot follow Eaton’s ruling this week, which proposed automatic tariff refunds with interest.
He explained that CBP needed time to reprogram the records system it uses to catalog the duties it collects from importers.
“Given the volume of entries made each year, CBP is unable to proactively review and clear each entry, and the vast majority of entries are automatically cleared,” Lord said in a court filing.
“As of March 4, 2026, more than 330,000 importers have filed more than 53 million total declarations depositing or paying duties imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.”
By automating the process, CBP could save more than 4 million hours of manual labor, Lord added. However, setting up a new system will take at least 45 days. Lord emphasized the vast nature of the mission he described.
“CBP has never been ordered or attempted to process a refund of anything approaching the total amount of entries and entry summary lines on which IEEPA duties were deposited,” he wrote.
But Lord did not say when companies would be able to receive their customs duty refunds.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Court of International Trade this week blocked the order “to the extent that it directs immediate compliance.” This appears to have been prompted by CBP’s request for more time to prepare refunds.
CBP estimates that as of March 4, customs deposits made under IEEPA were approximately $166 billion. The Supreme Court ruled last month that President Trump overstepped his authority by using IEEPA to ratchet up tariffs on countries around the world, a central element of his political plan.
The US president said he would maintain tariffs using alternative methods.
Judge Eaton’s decision on Wednesday was made in response to a complaint brought by importer Atmas Filtration, but his decision opens the door for all importers subject to IEEPA tariffs to seek refunds.
CBP said in a filing that companies will not need to sue to receive reimbursement under the program that will be established in the coming months.
“This new process requires minimal submissions from importers,” Lord said.
However, he suggested that electronic registration would be required for importers to receive refunds. He said as of February 6, only 21,423 importers had registered out of approximately 330,566 companies that were eligible.
“Refunds will be denied until the importer completes the process of receiving the refund electronically,” Lord said.
