A judge at the US Court of International Trade in Manhattan ruled this Wednesday (4) that Donald Trump’s administration must reimburse companies that paid tariffs annulled last month by the Supreme Court.
In the ruling, Justice Richard Eaton argued that “all registered importers were ‘entitled to benefit’ from the Supreme Court’s ruling that nullified the double-digit import taxes that President Donald Trump imposed last year under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA). He ordered that refunds be made with interest.”
The judge instructed the US Customs and Border Protection Service (CBP) to calculate shipments without charging fees, which will result in the refund amount. The importer pays an estimated value when the products enter the country, which is finalized 314 days later, in a process called settlement.
Eaton scheduled a new hearing for Friday, at which he requested updates on CBP’s reimbursement plans. He stated in the decision that the court’s chief judge indicated that only he will be in charge of analyzing fare refund cases.
According to court documents cited by broadcaster CNBC, Customs and Border Protection said the task of presenting entry costs without assessing a tariff was of an “unprecedented” scale and could require the manual review of more than 70 million import declarations. The federal agency asked for up to four months to evaluate its repayment options.
The U.S. government collected more than $130 billion in tariff payments that were later ruled illegal by the Supreme Court.
The announcement comes on the same day that the government said it will increase global tariffs to 15% in the coming days. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also said that President Donald Trump expects the remaining tariffs in force before the Supreme Court decision to be reinstated within a few months, based on other laws.
