Overview
- The U.S. Supreme Court struck down emergency IEEPA tariffs earlier this year, and the Court of International Trade confirmed that only the importer of record can reclaim duties from the government.
- U.S. Customs opened a CAPE portal to take phased refund claims from importers and has begun processing and paying accepted claims to companies that filed for refunds.
- A class-action filed in federal court in Seattle alleges Amazon, acting as importer of record for many sales, embedded tariff costs in retail prices and has not pursued recoveries for consumers.
- Critics note that refunded duties — estimated as part of roughly $166 billion collected before the court ruling — are landing with corporations while many shoppers who paid higher prices receive no direct relief.
- Legal fights and contract disputes are expected to multiply as courts test whether retailers must identify tariff markups and return recovered funds to the customers who originally bore those costs.