A federal court in New York is holding hearings this week to determine the scope and speed of a massive tariff refund program currently managed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The dispute centers on $166 billion in duties collected under tariffs that the Supreme Court later ruled were illegally imposed by former President Donald Trump.
While the CBP has already begun processing some claims, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is currently appealing a lower court ruling that would grant “universal” eligibility for refunds to all businesses that paid the duties. The DOJ argues that only companies that actively participated in the more than 2,500 lawsuits challenging the taxes should be entitled to reimbursement.
As of June 1, the CBP has accepted $89.6 billion in refund claims for processing and has directed the Treasury Department to issue $20.6 billion. However, the agency has restricted applications to businesses whose tax bills were not finalized at the time of the Supreme Court ruling or those settled within the last 80 days. Court of International Trade Judge Richard Eaton is pressing for clarity on whether the government intends to expand this window to include all affected importers, a move lawyers for the plaintiffs argue is necessary to ensure constitutional fairness.