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On March 4, Court of International Trade Judge Richard Eaton ruled that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) must refund money collected in reciprocal tariffs imposed last year by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The judge ruled that U.S. CBP must immediately liquidate all unliquidated entries without International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariffs and must reliquidate entries that are not yet final without IEEPA tariffs. The ruling follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s Feb. 20 ruling that tariffs imposed by President Trump under the IEEPA were unlawful. According to the declaration filed by U.S CBP on March 6 in response to the judge’s order, “As of March 4, 2026, the total amount of IEEPA duties and estimated duty deposits collected pursuant to IEEPA is approximately $166 billion.”
The court filing stated that the agency cannot currently comply with the judge’s order to liquidate all unliquidated entries without IEEPA tariffs and reliquidate entries that are not yet final without IEEPA tariffs, as well as begin distributing IEEPA duty refunds.
U.S. CBP reported that as of March 4, more than 330,000 importers have submitted more than 53 million entries, and if the agency were to immediately follow the judge’s order, “responsibilities would be severely disrupted and the agency would not be able to continue to adequately perform its mission, including its revenue protection mandate and its vital national security functions.”
How to file for a refund
To file for a refund, importers must file a declaration in the U.S. CBP’s Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) that includes a list of entries on which IEEPA duties were paid. For more information about filing in ACE, visit cbp.gov/trade/automated/how-to-use-ace.
Refund process
U.S. CBP’s response included its plan to process entries and begin issuing refunds, stating the following:
- “ACE runs a series of validations on each entry within the declaration and automatically recalculates the duty owed without the IEEPA tariffs (with applicable interest).
- CBP verifies the declaration and processes refunds as soon as practicable.
- ACE automatically finalizes (liquidates or reliquidates) the entries.
- ACE automatically aggregates the refunds with interest by importer and liquidation date.
- CBP certifies the refunds.
- The Department of the Treasury issues IEEPA refunds electronically.”
In the March 6 court filing, U.S. CBP stated that the agency “is making all possible efforts to have this new ACE functionality ready for use in 45 days,” which would set April 20, 2026, as the earliest date the agency would begin processing entries and distributing refunds.
