Home and housewares importers who paid IEEPA tariffs are a step closer to possible relief after a U.S. Court of International Trade judge ruled the U.S. government must refund all tariffs collected under an emergency power authority ruled to be unlawful by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Trade court Judge Richard Eaton, in a court filing yesterday, declared all importers whose shipments were subject to IEEPA duties are entitled to the benefit of the Supreme Court ruling. While not specifying a refund process, which will be left to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), Eaton said refunds are to be made with interest.
Eaton ordered the government to finalize (“liquidate”) the cost of U.S. imports entered before the Supreme Court ruling without factoring in an IEEPA tariff, according to a trade court filing. Liquidation is the finalization of duties owed on goods passing through Customs. Importers have 180 days to formally contest liquidated duties, after which the duties are legally final.
Judge Eaton, in the order, stated the CBP must:
“ Liquidate (i.e., finalize) all entries that have not liquidated without IEEPA duties (i.e., with the IEEPA duties subtracted), and
“Reliquidate (i.e., reopen for purposes of refunds) all liquidated entries that are not final (i.e., liquidation plus 180 days) without IEEPA duties.”
While the court order applies to all liquidated imports subject to IEEPA duties and does not require importers to file lawsuits, CBP has yet to comment on a process and schedule for refunds, according to published reports. More than 2,000 lawsuits have been filed with the trade court seeking IEPPA tariff refunds. Judge Eaton’s decision stemmed from a case brought by Nashville-based Atmus Filtration Technologies seeking a refund on some $11 million in illegal tariffs.
Observers said the Trump Administration is expected to appeal the trade court refund ruling and request a stay of the ruling until such an appeal can be heard.
