US customs agency says it still cannot refund tariff costs | Court News

The US agency says a system is being developed to mediate the disbursement of $166 billion in tariff costs to more than 330,000 importers.

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency has announced that it will need an additional 45 days to establish a system to process requests for refunds of tariffs recently overturned by the Supreme Court.

The announcement came Friday when attorneys representing CBP were called to a closed-door meeting with Judge Richard Eaton of the U.S. Court of International Trade.

Eaton had ruled Wednesday that the U.S. government owes refunds to importers who were charged tariffs under President Donald Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

The invocation of that law for Trump’s sweeping tariff campaign was deemed illegal in a Feb. 20 Supreme Court decision.

In a court filing (PDF) on Friday, Brandon Lord, director of CBP’s trade policy program, indicated that the agency would not be able to comply with Eaton’s ruling this week, which proposed automatic tariff refunds with interest.

He explained that CBP needed time to reprogram the registration system it uses to catalog duties collected from importers.

“Given the volume of entries made each year, CBP is unable to review and affirmatively settle each entry, and most entries are automatically settled,” Lord said in the court filing.

“As of March 4, 2026, more than 330,000 importers have made a total of more than 53 million entries in which they have deposited or paid duties imposed in accordance with the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.”

Automating the process, Lord added, would save CBP more than four million hours of manual work. But installing the new system would require at least 45 days. Lord underlined what he described as the vast nature of the task.

“CBP has never been ordered, nor attempted, to process a volume of refunds close to the volume of total entries and Entry Summary lines on which IEEPA duties have been deposited,” he wrote.

Lord, however, did not indicate when companies could expect to receive their tariff refunds.

The agency estimated that tariff deposits made under the IEEPA were valued at about $166 billion as of March 4. The Supreme Court ruled last month that Trump exceeded his powers by using the IEEPA to raise tariffs on countries around the world, a central element of Trump’s political agenda.

The president of the United States has said he will maintain the tariffs through alternative statutes.

Judge Eaton’s Wednesday ruling came in response to a complaint filed by an importer, Atmus Filtration, but his decision opened the door for all importers subject to IEEPA tariffs to request refunds.

CBP said in the document that companies will not have to file claims to receive refunds under the system that will be established in the coming months.

“This new process will require minimal filing from importers,” Lord said.

However, he noted that importers would have to register electronically to receive refunds. As of February 6, it said only 21,423 importers had signed up, out of approximately 330,566 who were eligible.

“Until importers complete the process to receive refunds electronically, refunds will be rejected,” Lord said.