Two months after the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s sweeping tariffs, American importers can today begin the process of applying for $166 billion plus interest in refunds owed to them.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection will be managing the refund process through a portal, where those entities who officially paid the tariffs can begin applying on Monday. Customers, who did not officially pay the cost of those tariffs through higher prices on goods, are not eligible to apply for refunds.
The program, called the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE), “is designed to consolidate refunds of IEEPA duties including interest rather than processing refunds on an entry-by-entry basis,” CBP said earlier.
The administration has admitted it may be months before applicants begin to see their refunds. CBP estimates the process may take 60 to 90 days after approval, depending on whether further reviews of entries are warranted.
The law Trump relied on, the IEEPA [International Emergency Economic Powers Act], was deemed illegal by SCOTUS on February 20, exactly three months ago.
By the administration’s own count, there were more than 330,000 importers by March that had paid IEEPA duties on more than 53 million entries.
Only two companies, FedEx and Costco, have indicated they may try to return money to customers who purchased higher priced goods.