Tariff receipts fall sharply

U.S. tariff receipts fell to $22.15 billion in March, down more than $4 billion from February and nearly 30% below October’s peak. (finance.yahoo.com) The March total came from the Treasury Department’s Monthly Treasury Statement, which showed customs-duty collections down from $26.59 billion in February after five straight monthly declines. October 2025 was the recent high at $31.35 billion. (fiscaldata.treasury.gov, finance.yahoo.com) Tariffs are taxes paid at the border when goods enter the United States, and the money shows up in federal customs-duty receipts. The Congressional Budget Office said customs duties totaled $167 billion in the first half of fiscal year 2026, up from $44 billion a year earlier after tariff-rate changes in 2025. (cbo.gov) The drop in March does not erase the larger surge in tariff collections, but it does show that the monthly take is no longer climbing. Analysts cited lower import volumes, shifts in sourcing and tariff-avoidance behavior as possible reasons for the slide. (finance.yahoo.com, cbo.gov) A second change arrives on April 20, when U.S. Customs and Border Protection plans to open the first phase of a refund process for tariffs struck down by the courts. Customs said the initial phase will cover certain entries that are still unliquidated or were liquidated recently enough to be reopened. (news.bloomberglaw.com, straitstimes.com) That refund process follows the Supreme Court’s February 20, 2026 ruling in *Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump*, which held that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the president to impose tariffs. The Court of International Trade then ordered Customs to begin unwinding those duties in the *Atmus Filtration* case. (supreme.justia.com, skadden.com) Court filings cited by trade lawyers say Phase 1 should cover about 63% of affected entries, including some marked “Suspended,” “Extended,” or “Under Review.” Customs told the court it expects to process those refunds within about 45 days after filers submit the required information, unless compliance questions slow the review. (thompsonhinesmartrade.com) Trade lawyers say the first phase is narrow because many entries are already finally liquidated, which means Customs has closed them out and cannot easily change the duty bill. The Court of International Trade has said the refund process must eventually reach those finalized entries too, but Customs has not laid out that later phase in detail. (thompsonhinesmartrade.com, parkerpoe.com) Customs has already collected far more trade revenue in recent years than before the 2025 tariff increases. On its trade-statistics page, the agency says duty, tax and fee collections reached $216.7 billion in fiscal year 2025, versus $88.07 billion in fiscal year 2024. (cbp.gov) March’s revenue drop and the April refund rollout leave importers tracking two moving numbers at once: how much new tariff money is still coming in, and how much old tariff money may soon go back out. (finance.yahoo.com, skadden.com)