A massive financial unwind is underway in the United States after courts struck down a cornerstone of former president Donald Trump’s trade policy. Now the government must return billions collected from importers—and it is scrambling to build the machinery to do it.
Officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) told a federal trade court that a dedicated system to process refunds from the invalidated tariffs should be operational within about 45 days. The plan surfaced in court filings submitted as the agency faces mounting pressure to reimburse roughly $166 billion paid by approximately 330,000 importers.
The dispute traces back to tariffs introduced during Trump’s presidency, a central pillar of his economic agenda. Those levies were ultimately invalidated by the Supreme Court of the United States, which ruled the duties unconstitutional. While the judgment wiped out the tariffs themselves, it left unresolved the practical question: how exactly should the government return the money?
A System to Avoid a Flood of Lawsuits
According to the customs agency’s filing, the refund mechanism being designed aims to keep importers out of court. Instead of forcing companies to pursue legal action, the agency plans to accept electronic declarations through its Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) system, where businesses will list tariff payments for verification.
Once validated, the refunds—plus interest—would be issued by the U.S. Treasury as a single consolidated payment to each importer, even if the company had made thousands of individual shipment entries.
The plan was presented to the U.S. Court of International Trade during discussions with Judge Richard Eaton, who has been overseeing the growing litigation tied to the tariffs.
Court Adjusts Its Expectations
Earlier, Eaton had ordered the government to begin refunds immediately through existing administrative processes. But after reviewing the agency’s explanation of the logistical hurdles, he modified that directive, effectively giving customs officials more breathing room to construct a workable system.
The scale of the task is staggering. Customs estimates the disputed tariffs were applied to more than 53 million shipments. Manually reviewing documentation for each entry under current procedures could demand over four million hours of work, according to the agency.
Officials warned such a massive undertaking would drain resources from the agency’s core mission of monitoring and enforcing U.S. trade rules.
Litigation Mounts
The legal pressure surrounding the refunds continues to grow. Eaton has been assigned to handle roughly 2,000 lawsuits filed by companies seeking repayment, but trade specialists believe that figure represents only a fraction of the potential claims.
Major corporations such as FedEx and L’Oréal have already filed suits. More recently, affiliates of Nintendo and CVS Health joined the wave of litigation.
The broader refund process is currently anchored to a case brought by Atmus Filtration Technologies, which the court is using as the vehicle to establish a solution that could apply across the entire importer community.
Business Groups Welcome the Proposal
The proposed 45-day system has drawn support from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which described the plan as a practical way to distribute refunds efficiently—particularly for smaller businesses.
Trade groups argue that forcing companies to individually pursue reimbursement would overwhelm both businesses and the courts.
Yet there is another complication: participation in the electronic refund system remains limited. Out of the hundreds of thousands of importers eligible for reimbursement, only about 21,000 had registered for the system shortly after it launched earlier this year.
With billions on the line and litigation accelerating, the coming weeks may determine whether the government can resolve the tariff saga administratively—or whether the courts will remain the primary battleground for companies seeking their money back.
