News
04/03/26
US court orders refunds on Trump's IEEPA tariffs
Washington, 4 March (Argus) — A federal court has ordered President Donald
Trump's administration to begin processing refunds on tens of billions of
dollars in emergency tariffs the US Supreme Court said last month were unlawful.
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) must recalculate final duties owed on
"any and all" imported goods without including the tariffs that Trump imposed
under law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA),
Richard Eaton, a judge on the US Court of International Trade, wrote in a
three-page decision on Wednesday. Eaton, who said he is the only judge on the
court hearing IEEPA tariff refund cases, said the Supreme Court's decision that
struck down Trump's emergency tariffs should provide across-the-board relief,
even to those that had not filed lawsuits. Thousands of companies have already
filed lawsuits seeking refunds of the IEEPA tariffs, which collected an
estimated $175bn from importers during the nearly one-year period when Trump had
them in effect. "All importers of record whose entries were subject to IEEPA
duties are entitled to the benefit of the Learning Resources decision," Eaton
wrote, referencing the name of the Supreme Court's tariff ruling. The court's
order does not explicitly lay out the refund process, but instead applies to
customs entries that are "unliquidated" — those that are pending — and those
that are liquidated but not yet final. The order, issued as part of a tariff
refund lawsuit an air filtration product company filed less than a week ago,
suggests that courts intend to move quickly on refunds after the Supreme Court's
6-3 ruling finding Trump had no authority to impose his emergency tariffs.
Earlier this week, a federal appeals court denied a request by the Trump
administration for a months-long delay in court proceedings over tariff refunds,
allowing tariff lawsuits to resume in the Court of International Trade. Trump
previously said the refund process might take "years" to resolve in court. The
Trump administration told Eaton this week it was still considering "next steps"
for the Supreme Court opinion, including the mechanics and "scope" of refunds.
As of Wednesday, CBP said it had not paid refunds on any of the IEEPA tariffs.
In a court filing earlier on Wednesday, the administration conceded that it
would have to also pay interest on any tariff refunds it is required to make.
The cumulative interest payments on the refunded tariffs could reach $700mn each
month, according to calculations the think tank Cato Institute published this
week. US senator Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts), in a letter on Wednesday to
administration officials, said that the Trump administration's "dithering" on
tariff refunds had created an opening for those on Wall Street to offer small
companies with immediate cash needs "pennies on the dollars" to purchase their
tariff refund rights. Further delaying tariff refunds would result in "more
pain" for US companies and their customers, he wrote. By Chris Knight Send
comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright ©
2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
