U.S. Government Officially Appeals Tariff Refund Ruling

On June 3, it was reported that the U.S. government officially appealed on June 2 against the ruling by the U.S. Court of International Trade that ordered the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to refund tariffs. The outcome of the appeal is significant as it pertains to approximately $166 billion in tariff revenue collected from U.S. importers during the Trump administration, and the ongoing tariff refund process may be affected. According to a Supreme Court ruling, a judge from the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled on March 4 that the CBP could not assess tariffs based on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. This means that tariffs previously collected from importers under that law must be refunded. As reported by the CBP, as of March 4, over 330,000 importers had prepaid or paid a total of approximately $166 billion in related tariffs. A recent legal document submitted by the agency indicates that as of May 22, it had processed refund requests totaling about $85 billion and requested the Treasury to refund approximately $20.6 billion in tariffs.