In February of last year, the US Supreme Court upheld lower court rulings that found the Trump administration’s IEEPA-based tariffs invalid.
The US Court of International Trade (CIT) then ordered US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to begin issuing refunds on the approximately $166 billion in IEEPA tariffs collected since early 2025. CBP has started that process, but may challenge whether the court’s order applies to liquidated customs entries – entries that have already been finalized – which account for roughly half of all IEEPA duties.
Key Insights
US Customs and Border Protection has begun processing refunds for about half of all paid IEEPA tariffs, but the White House may challenge the validity of the court order for the rest.
The key issue is liquidation: CBP says it can refund entries that are not yet liquidated, but needs a separate, specific court order for each already-liquidated entry in order to refund duties on these shipments.
Legal proceedings on this topic could mean it will be a while before the issue is resolved and refunds for these entries proceed.
If the government’s position is upheld, importers with liquidated entries may need to sue the government in trade court in order to receive a refund.
Some experts are advising importers to track the timelines of their liquidated entries and file protests before protest windows close because of these ongoing complications.
Refunds underway – for some
In April, the CBP opened a portal to start processing refund claims, but the White House is now objecting to issuing refunds for about half of all IEEPA imports.
Importers file customs entries when their goods arrive in the US, estimating the duties owed , usually with the help of a customs broker. Those duties are typically paid before or shortly after CBP clears the shipment.
But before the entry is considered final, the CBP must review and confirm or adjust the accuracy of the duties paid through a process called liquidation. Liquidation can occur up to 314 days after entry, at which point CBP either confirms that the correct amount was paid, issues a refund if duties were overpaid, or bills the importer if duties were underpaid.
Last week, the Trump administration responded to an IEEPA-related order from the CIT asking CBP to explain why more progress had not been made on refunds. In its filing, the administration said that CBP is complying with the court’s instructions and is already refunding duties for entries that have not yet been liquidated, or that were liquidated recently. These entries account for more than half of all IEEPA tariffs paid.
Liquidated entries are more complicated, for now
But the same filing revealed plans to challenge the court’s authority to apply its refund mandate to the remaining half of the $166B IEEPA duties – entries that have already been liquidated. The administration will argue that the CBP is not authorized to reliquidate an entry without an entry-specific court order.
Under this approach, CBP would only be able to issue refunds for liquidated entries belonging to the plaintiffs in the original CIT case, or to other importers that sue the government and obtain a court order directing CBP to reliquidate their entries.
The government has to submit a brief on the topic by June 4th, and has until June 6th to file this appeal. These developments mean many importers with liquidated entries who expected a refund may face new obstacles, or at the very least a longer and potentially bumpy legal road before receiving one.
In the meantime, some trade law experts are advising importers to keep track of the timeline for their liquidated entries, even if they’ve already submitted a claim for an IEEPA refund, and file protests for these entries before the protest window closes.
We’ll continue posting updates on these developments. Stay tuned.