By Elias Schisgall


U.S. Customs and Border Protection says a system for tariff refunds will be operational in 45 days following the Supreme Court's ruling striking down President Trump's sweeping global tariffs last month.

The agency said it will work on a streamlined system for refund payments rather than manually processing individual tariff requests, which would be unfeasible given the agency's capacity, CBP Executive Director of Trade Policy and Programs Brandon Lord wrote in a Friday court filing.

The filing comes in response to a ruling in the Court of International Trade requiring the agency to begin refunding tariff payments collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. CBP had collected about $166 billion worth of those payments as of Wednesday, the agency said.

The agency said the new refund process will consolidate refunds and interest payments on an importer basis. It said that more than 330,000 importers have made upwards of 53 million entries for Ieepa tariff payments, and that refunding each one under current processes would take more than 4.4 million manhours.

"The process will be simpler and more efficient than the existing functionalities, and CBP will provide guidance on how to file refund declarations in the new system," the agency said in the filing.

The Supreme Court ruled in February that Trump lacked the authority to impose tariffs under Ieepa. That ruling didn't address whether the administration would be obligated to issue tariff refunds.

Richard Eaton, a judge in that Court of International Trade, ruled Wednesday that CBP must issue refunds by recalculating initial duties paid by importers, excluding the Ieepa tariffs.

CBP said it would not be able to comply with the order as written, due to the agency's capacity and its automatic process for liquidating tariff payments.

"CBP is now facing an unprecedented volume of refunds," the agency said. "Its existing administrative procedures and technology are not well-suited to a task of this scale and will require manual work that will prevent personnel from fully carrying out the agency's trade enforcement mission."

FedEx became the first major company to sue the Trump administration for a refund following the Supreme Court ruling. Other companies, including Costco, had sued for refunds prior to the ruling.

Costco is evaluating whether it will be able to receive tariff refunds, which it said it plans to pass on to customers via lower prices, Chief Executive Ron Vachris told analysts on a Thursday afternoon call.

In response to the Supreme Court ruling, Trump said he would impose new 15% global tariffs under a different legal authority, Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. Two dozen states sued the administration on Thursday, arguing that the new tariffs are illegal.


Write to Elias Schisgall at elias.schisgall@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-06-26 1313ET