Overview
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection says it is building a new refund system inside its ACE platform that will include a claim portal, mass processing, review, and payment tools, and the trade court has asked the agency to report on its progress.
- The Court of International Trade ruled refunds must flow through CBP’s standard process to importers of record, so filing a lawsuit does not guarantee priority, and companies are being advised to set up ACH in ACE to receive wired payments.
- Roughly $166 billion to $175 billion in IEEPA duties, plus interest, are at stake, and CBP has signaled the ACE-based tool is expected to go live within the next few weeks.
- Consumer lawsuits are multiplying, including cases against Costco and FedEx, yet legal analysts say there is no general duty to pass refunds to customers because any sharing depends on the contracts between buyers and sellers.
- After the Supreme Court struck down the IEEPA tariffs, the administration turned to Section 122 of the Trade Act for a new across-the-board surcharge, which remains in effect and is now being challenged in separate lawsuits by states and small businesses.