The U.S. Court of International Trade ruled this week importers can pursue a class-action lawsuit to receive refunds for duties paid on International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariffs between February 2025 and February 2026.
The Supreme Court ruled the IEEPA tariffs levied during that period as unconstitutional in February, and ordered U.S. Customs and Border Protection to repay more than $166 billion in duties. More than $126 billion has been returned through its CAPE payment portal and this week’s ruling should enable other importers who have not been reimbursed to regain the duties they previously paid, the court says.
“Some importers of record have not taken advantage of CAPE. It is believed that these are overwhelmingly small importers who, because of the cost or effort involved in filing a CAPE declaration, or because they are unaware of the program, will never take advantage of CAPE. In addition, CAPE itself does not accept certain categories of entries for processing, including finally liquidated entries of non-plaintiff importers of record,” the court ruling states.
“Should further action not be taken, we are left with the prospect of the U.S. Department of the Treasury retaining billions of dollars of unlawfully collected duties, and tens of thousands of importers of record being denied the liquidation or the reliquidation of their entries. Without these liquidations or reliquidations, these tens of thousands of importers will not receive the refunds they are owed.”
Recent data from RigDig, (owned by Fusable, parent company of TPS) shows the U.S. trucking fleet expanded in Q3, a positive outcome to stabler trade practices since the IEEPA tariff ruling was announced.
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The order states any importer who has not yet filed a suit regarding the refunds are eligible for the class action.
“Today, the court is certifying a class in the hope, and expectation, that this certification will lead to the liquidation or reliquidation of all of the entries on which the unlawful IEEPA duties were imposed, and the refund of those duties to the importers of record that paid them,” the order states.
