The Trump administration is expected to issue the first tariff refunds in early May, after the Supreme Court ruled Washington’s sweeping duties violated the law.
The first refunds are expected to roll out around May 11, according to an order filed Tuesday by Judge Richard Eaton in the U.S. Court of International Trade. Eaton, who is overseeing the reimbursement process, said the government has approved refunds for about 21% of import entries subject to the tariffs President Donald Trump issued under the Emergency Economic Powers Act.
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The tariff saga started last year when Trump issued global “Liberation Day” tariffs. The president used the IEEPA as the legal basis for collecting duties, triggering lawsuits over whether the statute can be used in such a manner. In February, the Supreme Court ruled against Trump, blocking the president from using the IEEPA to levy tariffs. At the time, the court did not issue a caveat to the ruling allowing the U.S. to keep revenue from tariffs already collected, meaning the government must issue refunds.
“All they had to do was add one sentence, just one sentence, and that’s you don’t have to pay anything taken in thus far back, but because they didn’t add … we have to pay back $165 billion,” Trump said last week. “So, I’m not happy with the Supreme Court, I’ll be honest with you. I will tell you that because I’m looking to make this country strong, the Supreme Court could have helped us.”
The Trump administration opened a portal to process refund claims that launched on April 20. The system run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection could process up to $175 billion in tariff refunds for around 300,000 companies. As of April 26, CBP’s “CAPE” portal had received more than 75,000 refund requests from U.S. businesses and other importers, according to court filings. Roughly 15% of tariff refund requests have been rejected since CAPE launched, according to CBP.
Some companies, including FedEx and UPS, have said they will pass the refund to customers.
“We are working with the Customs and Border Protection to apply for those refunds. Our approach is to work with the U.S. government and not to sue the U.S. government,” UPS CEO Carol Tome said Tuesday. “We think it’s going to take some time before the Treasury remits money to us, but as soon as we get that money, we’re going to remit it right back to our customers.”
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Trump has promised to “remember” businesses that choose not to apply for refunds.
“Actually, if they don’t do that, they’ve got to know me very well,” the president said last week, when pressed on why several large technology companies have not filed for reimbursement. “I’m very honored by what you just said. If they don’t do that, I’ll remember them.”
