US Court Orders Refund of Retaliatory Tariffs to All Companies

Standards Established for Tariff Refunds

A U.S. court has ruled that all companies must be refunded the reciprocal tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and other media outlets on March 4 (local time), the U.S. Court of International Trade (USCI) determined that "all official importers are eligible for tariff refunds as beneficiaries under the Supreme Court's invalidation ruling."

Senior Judge Richard Eaton of the CIT stated in the decision, "All IEEPA tariffs imposed must be refunded," and ordered U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) not to impose further IEEPA tariffs on goods undergoing future customs liquidation procedures. For goods that have already completed the liquidation process, he instructed that the costs be recalculated without the tariffs and that refunds be issued including interest.

He further directed CBP that if an item is currently undergoing the "liquidation" process, the reciprocal tariffs must be deducted to calculate the final amount, and if the process has been completed, the payment must be recalculated to exclude the amounts already paid.

"Liquidation" refers to the process of finalizing the tax amount on imported goods, which is essentially similar to an annual tax settlement. It involves confirming the accurate annual tax amount and either collecting additional taxes or providing refunds accordingly.

On February 20, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the reciprocal tariffs imposed under IEEPA by the Trump administration were unlawful. However, the ruling did not specify whether refunds should be issued or how such procedures should be carried out. The Associated Press (AP) evaluated that this recent judgment has clarified the refund procedures.

Companies can only officially challenge the tariffs within 180 days after the completion of liquidation. For this reason, more than 2,000 companies in the United States, including Costco, had already filed lawsuits seeking to halt the liquidation process and request refunds, even before the ruling of illegality was issued.

According to CBP, as of December last year, approximately 300,000 importers had paid reciprocal tariffs. The total volume reached 130 billion dollars (34 million cases). Of these, 19.2 million cases are still undergoing the liquidation process, and the final tax amount has not yet been determined. The interest burden due to delayed refunds is also expected to reach approximately 23 million dollars.

However, the Trump administration is likely to attempt to delay the tariff refunds through legal procedures. Ryan Majerus, a trade law attorney who previously worked for the federal government, told AP, "CBP could file for a stay of execution on this decision in order to buy time to comply with the ruling."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.