U.S. to refund $166bn in tariffs
The U.S. will open a system on April 20 to refund importers for $166bn in tariffs that courts later struck down, an administrative admission of the scale and legal fragility of recent trade levies. (reuters.com). Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said tariff rates could be restored by early July, and a PwC survey reported by Fortune finds many CEOs now expect tariffs to persist beyond the current administration (bloomberg.com) (fortune.com). The administration has also adjusted metals tariffs while automakers including Volkswagen have criticized 25% duties on Mexican and Canadian automotive goods as inconsistent with USMCA (digitaldealer.com).
The United States will start refunding importers for tariffs the courts threw out, opening a claims system on April 20 for about $166 billion in payments. (usnews.com) U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a court filing on April 14 that the first phase of its new refund platform, called Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries, or CAPE, is complete. The agency said the system will go live at 8 a.m. Eastern on April 20 and combine approved refunds into one electronic payment for each importer. (cbp.gov) (finance.yahoo.com) The refunds cover duties collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a 1977 law the Trump administration used to impose broad import taxes. On February 20, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the law does not authorize tariffs and invalidated both the April 2025 “reciprocal” tariffs and the fentanyl-related tariffs tied to trafficking and immigration. (scotusblog.com) (ropesgray.com) That ruling did not end the administration’s tariff push. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on April 14 that the White House is conducting Section 301 studies and that tariff rates could return to their previous levels by the beginning of July. (bloomberg.com) (news.bloomberglaw.com) Companies are already planning as if tariffs will outlast this court fight. PwC said 86% of 633 U.S. executives surveyed last month now treat tariffs as a “permanent planning assumption,” and Fortune reported that many expect them to continue beyond the Trump administration. (finance.yahoo.com) (fortune.com) The White House has also kept revising tariffs on specific industries instead of abandoning them. A presidential fact sheet published April 9 said goods made entirely of steel, aluminum, and copper would still face a 50% tariff, while some derivative products would face lower rates depending on metal content. (whitehouse.gov) (federalregister.gov) Automakers are pressing a separate complaint about North American trade rules. Volkswagen said 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian automotive goods conflict with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the regional trade pact negotiated in Trump’s first term, and Digital Dealer reported that auto tariffs have already added about $30 billion in industry costs. (cbtnews.com) (digitaldealer.com) The refund portal turns a court loss into an administrative job: send back cash already collected while preparing the legal case for new levies. By April 20, importers will be filing for money from tariffs the government is also trying to restore by July. (usnews.com) (bloomberg.com)
