Tariff‑refund portal opens

U.S. Customs and Border Protection opened its tariff-refund portal Monday, letting businesses start claiming back import taxes the courts said President Donald Trump imposed unlawfully. (cbp.gov) The portal went live April 20 through the Automated Commercial Environment, the trade system importers already use to file entries with Customs. CBP calls the new refund tool CAPE, short for Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries. (cbp.gov) CBP said the first phase covers certain unliquidated entries and certain entries within 80 days of liquidation, which is Customs’ final accounting on a shipment. Valid claims are supposed to be paid electronically, with interest, after importers submit declarations and refund bank details. (cbp.gov) The refund drive follows a Feb. 20 Supreme Court ruling, by a 6-3 vote, that Trump exceeded his authority when he used the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to set broad tariffs last April. A judge at the U.S. Court of International Trade later held that affected importers were entitled to refunds. (cnbc.com) Court filings cited by CBP say more than 330,000 importers paid about $166 billion on more than 53 million shipments covered by the refund effort. CBP told traders the new system is being rolled out in phases because the volume is too large to process manually. (cnbc.com) (cbp.gov) The mechanics are not simple. Importers and customs brokers need an active Automated Commercial Environment portal account, must enroll separately for Automated Clearing House refunds, and have to compile the entry numbers on which the duties were paid. (cbp.gov 1) (cbp.gov 2) CBP said accepted claims will generally be refunded in 60 to 90 days, but more complicated cases will take longer as later phases add scenarios the first release does not handle. The agency’s quick-reference guide says one CAPE declaration can bundle multiple entry numbers into one consolidated refund. (cnbc.com) (cbp.gov) The money goes first to the importer of record, not automatically to retailers, manufacturers, or shoppers who may have absorbed the tariff cost in contracts or higher prices. Reuters, via CNBC, reported that any reimbursements businesses choose to make to customers are likely to move slowly, if they happen at all. (cnbc.com) That leaves sourcing decisions unsettled even after the portal opened. The government has started the repayment process, but the businesses that paid the tariffs still have to clear a paperwork-heavy line before any cash comes back. (cbp.gov 1) (cbp.gov 2)