Feds Prepare to Pay Billions in Tariff Refunds

Importers who shelled out billions under tariffs the Supreme Court tossed in February are finally about to see some money flow back. US Customs and Border Protection has told the Court of International Trade it will roll out the first phase of its new refund platform, called CAPE, on Monday, Reuters reports. The system is designed to bundle repayments into a single electronic transfer per importer, with interest where applicable, instead of handling them shipment by shipment. CBP's Tuesday filing said that as of April 9, more than 56,000 importers have registered for electronic refunds totaling $127 billion, out of a potential $166 billion paid by more than 330,000 importers on 53 million shipments.

The refunds stem from the Supreme Court's finding that Trump exceeded his authority when he used the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose broad global tariffs. Last month, a trade court judge ruled that the administration had to pay refunds. CBP says CAPE will initially handle newer and simpler entries, while it weighs how to deal with a more complex $2.9 billion slice that might otherwise require labor-intensive manual review. The trade court is overseeing the rollout as separate legal challenges play out over a new temporary global tariff Trump imposed under a different statute.

• "It's amazing that CBP has been cooperative as they've been," trade attorney Lizbeth Levinson tells CBS News. "But one thing has been clear from the beginning—that customs is putting the burden on the importer. Customs is not figuring it out. It's up to each individual importer."
• "These are absolutely not automatic refunds," says Levinson, co-chair of the international trade practice group at Fox Rothschild. "You have to jump through hoops, even though customs should have taken it upon themselves to do automatic refunds. They have all the information—they know who paid IEEPA duties and how to get in touch with people."
• CBP says refunds should be paid within 60 to 90 days of approval, though it could take much longer if there are any discrepancies in the paperwork. Politico reports that hedge funds have stepped in to pay importers immediately—around 70 cents a dollar on larger claims—in return for a claim to the full refund. Insiders say the strategy is potentially lucrative for the hedge funds but also risky, since Trump could issue an executive order at any time ordering CBP not to pay refunds. "This thing could go 18 different ways," one litigation financier says.