U.S. to open tariff-refund system

The Trump administration plans to open a new claims system on April 20 so U.S. importers can start seeking refunds on tariffs the Supreme Court threw out in February. (reuters.com) U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the first phase of the system, called Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries, or CAPE, is complete and will run through the agency’s Automated Commercial Environment trade portal. The refunds cover about $166 billion in duties collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. (cbp.gov, reuters.com) The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on February 20, 2026, that President Donald Trump exceeded his authority when he used the 1977 emergency-powers law to impose broad tariffs. The case centered on whether a law that lets a president regulate trade during an emergency also lets him tax imports. (scotusblog.com) Those tariffs had reached products from China, Canada and Mexico, and a separate 10% levy on imports from most countries, with higher rates for dozens of trading partners. The court did not decide the refund process itself, leaving Customs and the Court of International Trade to build one afterward. (scotusblog.com) Customs says CAPE is meant to avoid refunding money shipment by shipment. Instead, it will group eligible claims so an importer gets one electronic payment, with interest when applicable. (cbp.gov, reuters.com) The first phase is narrow. Customs says it covers certain unliquidated entries and certain entries filed within 80 days of liquidation, while more complicated cases will be pushed to later phases. (cbp.gov, thompsonhinesmartrade.com) Importers or their customs brokers must file a CAPE Declaration through the web-based trade portal, using a comma-separated values file that lists the entries they want refunded. Customs says each declaration can include up to 9,999 entries, and filers can submit more than one. (cbp.gov) As of April 9, 56,497 importers had completed the setup needed to receive electronic refunds, covering about $127 billion of the affected tariffs, according to a court filing reported by Reuters. Court documents say more than 330,000 importers paid the tariffs across 53 million shipments. (reuters.com) Some claims will still be slow. Reuters reported Customs is weighing how to handle a subset of entries tied to about $2.9 billion in tariffs that would normally require manual processing, which the agency said would pull staff from other trade and enforcement work. (reuters.com) Customs says refunds will generally go out within 60 to 90 days after it accepts a CAPE Declaration, unless a compliance issue triggers extra review. For importers that have been waiting since the February ruling, April 20 is the date when the legal win starts turning into actual payments. (thompsonhinesmartrade.com, cbp.gov)