US to refund $166B in tariffs

The United States will start refunding unlawful tariffs on April 20, unwinding about $166 billion that importers paid under a trade policy the Supreme Court struck down. (money.usnews.com) United States Customs and Border Protection said in a court filing on April 14 that the first phase of its new refund system, called Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries, or CAPE, is complete. The agency said importers will get one electronic payment, with interest when applicable, instead of refunds being processed shipment by shipment. (money.usnews.com) The Supreme Court ruled on February 20, 2026, that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act did not authorize President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs. Court filings say more than 330,000 importers paid those duties on 53 million shipments, and 56,497 importers had already completed the steps for electronic refunds covering $127 billion as of April 9. (taxfoundation.org) (money.usnews.com) The refunds do not mean the tariff fight is over. The same Tax Foundation analysis says separate Section 232 tariffs remain in place, with an estimated $635 billion in revenue over the next decade and an average cost of $400 per United States household in 2026. (taxfoundation.org) Boardrooms are planning for that kind of staying power. PwC said on April 13 that 86% of executives now treat tariffs as a “permanent planning assumption,” while 65% said they lack the data needed to assess geopolitical risks and opportunities. (pwc.com) Recent data points in the same direction on prices. The Budget Lab at Yale said on April 1 that 2025 tariffs had raised an estimated $214.7 billion in inflation-adjusted customs revenue above the 2022-2024 average through February 2026, while imported core goods and durable goods prices both rose 1.5% during 2025 through January. (budgetlab.yale.edu) The hit has not been confined to ports or import-heavy industries. Cornell University highlighted new research on April 9 showing that tariff exposure runs through state supply chains in different ways, with export-oriented farm states exposed to retaliation and lower-export states still facing higher costs for inputs such as fertilizer and feed. (news.cornell.edu) Wendong Zhang of Cornell said the country does not have one agricultural trade exposure but “50 different ones.” His example was blunt: a trade dispute in Washington can end with a shopper in New York paying more at the grocery store. (news.cornell.edu) For importers, the next date is April 20, when the government’s refund portal goes live. For everyone else, the larger picture is that one set of tariffs is being paid back even as other tariffs, and the prices tied to them, remain embedded in the economy. (money.usnews.com) (taxfoundation.org)