President Trump talks about possible $175 billion worth of tariff refunds
President Donald Trump answered a question about the possibility of $175 billion worth of tariff refunds following the Supreme Court ruling.
WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) – A U.S. Trade Court judge on Wednesday ordered the government to begin issuing billions of dollars in refunds to importers who paid tariffs that the Supreme Court last month said were illegally collected.
Judge Richard Eaton of the U.S. Court of International Trade in Manhattan ordered the government to finalize the cost of bringing millions of shipments into the United States without assessing customs duties, according to court filings. He ordered the money to be returned with interest.
When goods are brought into the United States, the importer pays the estimated amount upon entry, with final payment approximately 314 days later. This is a process known as liquidation. Eaton directed Customs and Border Protection to finalize the cost of entry for the shipment without customs valuation, resulting in a refund.
“Customs knows how to do this,” he said during a court hearing Wednesday, according to a recording posted on the court’s website. He said authorities should be able to program the system to provide periodic refunds if importers overpay estimated duties.
“They’re doing it every day. They’re clearing entries and issuing refunds,” he said.
Eaton also set a hearing for Friday to seek an update on CBP’s refund plan. In his order, he said the court’s chief justice had indicated that Mr. Eaton would be the only judge to hear tariff refund cases.
Customs and Border Protection said in a court filing that the task of finalizing entry fees without assessing customs duties is “unprecedented” and could require manual completion of more than 70 million entry checks. In other court filings, the agency said it was seeking up to four months to evaluate refund options.
CBP did not respond to requests for comment.
“The language of this order strongly suggests a blanket approach in which importers have the right to suspend IEEPA refunds altogether,” said Ryan Majerus, a former senior Commerce Department official and current partner at King & Spalding. “The government may challenge the scope of this order, or at least ask for more time to allow U.S. Customs to accomplish what is undoubtedly a monumental task here.”
The U.S. government has collected more than $130 billion in illegal tariff payments that were a centerpiece of President Trump’s trade policy. The Supreme Court has not provided any guidance regarding refunds, leading to confusion over how to refund importers.
Eaton’s order comes in a lawsuit brought by Atomas Filtration ATMU.N, which said in a court filing that it paid about $11 million in illegal duties.
Atomas’ attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
Atomas’ case is one of about 2,000 cases filed in the Trade Court seeking to recover tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
Mr Eaton said there was no need to hear each case. “We want to come up with a way for these importers to claim the illegally applied duties.”
More than 300,000 importers paid duties. The majority of importers are small and medium-sized businesses, and they want customs officials to adopt a simple, low-cost system for disbursing refunds. Many told Reuters they might forfeit their refunds if they had to file a lawsuit or go through cumbersome customs paperwork.
“There should be no impediment to CBP issuing refunds,” said trade lawyer George Tuttle.
(Reporting by David Lowder and Andrea Shalal in Washington and Tom Hulse in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Anna Driver and Matthew Lewis)
