Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: After weeks of waiting in the wake of the US Supreme Court ruling, the Donald Trump Administration has finally begun the process of refunding nearly USD 166 billion America collected from importers under the Republican President’s “America First” tariff policy launched in 2025, the media reported on Monday.
The Trump Administration is launching an online portal for businesses to reimburse approximately USD 175 billion in tariffs paid, which were deemed illegal by the US Supreme Court in February.
The portal, known as Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE), will streamline the submission and processing of valid refund requests for duties imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), as authorized by court order, according to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
The portal is, however, designed to consolidate refunds of IEEPA duties, including interest, rather than processing refunds on an entry-by-entry basis. It remains unclear how the Trump administration will process the returns.
Eligibility
According to a CBS report, the US government could owe businesses up to $175 billion after the Supreme Court ruled in February that President Donald Trump had illegally issued tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA.
As of April 9, over 56,000 US importers have registered to receive tariff refunds, according to CBP. However, not all of these requests meet the criteria for refunds in the first phase of the refund system.
“Phase 1 is limited to certain unliquidated entries and certain entries within 80 days of liquidation,” the reports said.
Around 82 percent of the payments, amounting to USD 127 billion, are eligible for refunds in CAPE’s initial deployment, the CBS report said.
It was not just the business but the customers as well that bore the bulk of the tariff burden. But it remains unclear if the consumers will get any refunds.
Some companies, including FedEx and Costco, have pledged to compensate customers, but so far, there’s no process to do so.
Only IEEPA tariffs are eligible for refunds, and even then, there are limits to the kinds of duties that CBP said it will refund.
That accounts for roughly 63 percent of all IEEPA duties, Sanne Manders, president of Flexport, a global trade and logistics company, told CBS.
“The remaining 37 per cent of entries that have already been liquidated or are being protested are excluded… A lot is still unclear about what the process will be,” she added.
Comments are closed.