When Can Businesses Expect Their Tariff Refunds?
After the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump Administration tariffs are invalid, American businesses anticipate hundreds of millions of dollars in refunds for import tariffs they paid.
Since then, the U.S. Court of International Trade ordered that importers were due refunds for the tariffs paid and a federal court in New York is now taking the first official steps to being the refund process.
College of Law Dean Terence Lau is available to talk to reporters about these refunds. Dean Lau began his career in the Office of the General Counsel at Ford Motor Company in the International Trade and Transactions practice group. His practice focused on U.S. law for foreign affiliates and subsidiaries, among other topics. Later he served as Ford鈥檚 director for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Government Affairs.
His comments about the refunds:
- “The Court of International Trade ruling confirms what the Supreme Court already made clear: IEEPA was never designed to be a tariff statute, and if the tariffs were unlawful, the money has to go back. Court of International Trade Judge Richard Eaton’s order that all importers of record are entitled to benefit, not just the ones who sued, is a big deal. That’s a very clear across-the-board refund mandate,” says Lau.
- “But the administration is clearly dragging its feet. Customs and Border Patrol called this ‘unprecedented’ and initially wanted four months just to assess its options, even though, as Judge Eaton pointed out, the agency liquidates entries and issues refunds every single day. Meanwhile, every month of delay costs taxpayers roughly $700 million in accruing interest on the $130 billion-plus in illegally collected duties. The government has acknowledged it owes interest, which makes the foot-dragging even harder to justify and understand,” says Lau.
- “At the same time, the administration pivoted within hours of the Supreme Court ruling to impose a new 15% global tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, a statute no president has ever used before (just like with IEEPA, the administration is more than willing to stretch old statutes in new and novel ways). Secretary Scott Bessent said he expects tariff rates to return to pre-Supreme Court levels within five months through other legal authorities. So the message to businesses seems to be: we’ll eventually give your money back (maybe), but we’re going to keep taxing your imports in the meantime,” says Lau.
- “The Section 122 tariffs expire after 150 days unless Congress extends them. That’s a statutory ticking clock. The administration is betting it can build new tariff authority through Section 301 and Section 232 investigations before the window closes. Whether they can do that fast enough, and whether courts will sustain those actions, is the next big legal question. There will be a lot of litigation to settle these questions,” says Lau.
- “For businesses, especially small and mid-size importers, this is a confusing moment. They’re simultaneously paying new tariffs while waiting for refunds on the old ones, and the 180-day liquidation window means companies that don’t act in time could lose their refund rights entirely,” says Lau.
To arrange an interview, please contact Ellen James Mbuqe, executive director of media relations, at ejmbuqe@syr.edu.
