A federal court trade judge on Mar. 4 ordered the Trump administration to begin refunding more than $130 billion to importers who paid global tariffs that the Supreme Court deemed were collected illegally in February.
Judge Richard Eaton of the U.S. Court of International Trade in Manhattan issued a written order instructing U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to recalculate the cost of bringing millions of cargo into the U.S., excluding the tariffs invalidated by the high court. In addition, Judge Eaton directed the Trump administration to issue the refunds with interest.
Judge Eaton’s order was issued after a suit filed by Atmus Filtration seeking a refund, stating in its court filing that it paid nearly $11 million in illegal duties.
Over 2,000 proceedings have been filed by companies seeking to recover their earnings. Costco Wholesale, Pandora Jewelry, and Federal Express (FedEx) are among the big names involved.
“Customs knows how to do this,” he told a court hearing on Wednesday, expressing that the repayment task should be simple and uncomplicated. “They do it every day. They liquidate entries and make refunds.”
During the hearing, Judge Eaton pushed back against Department of Justice (DOJ) attorney Claudia Burke, who claimed that the administration hadn’t yet given a stance on refunding the duties.
“Your position is clear,” the judge replied. “The Supreme Court told you what your position is.”
Burke added that any refund procedure would be time-consuming for the tariff collector, telling the judge that CBP would have to review millions of import entries.
“We live in the age of computers,” Eaton responded. “It must be possible for Customs Service to program its computers, so it doesn’t need a manual review.”
Concurrently, Judge Eaton has set a hearing for Mar. 6, requesting updates on CBP’s refund strategy, adding that the court’s chief judge indicated he will be in charge of settling the refund cases.
