Trump’s Illegal Tariffs Refund Process Begins: Who Qualifies and When to Expect Payments

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has opened a new online portal this week, allowing companies to submit tariff receipts and request refunds on illegal tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. The move follows a February U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the administration lacked legal authority to levy these tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which was used to impose the so-called "Liberation Day" tariffs last year.

The CBP stated in a release that importers and brokers should expect tariff refunds within 60 to 90 days, though some cases may take longer. However, not all imports that paid IEEPA tariffs are eligible for refunds in this initial phase. The refund process will first apply only to goods that have not yet completed the duty-paying process. According to a March filing by the Trump administration with the Court of International Trade, this phase will cover approximately 63 percent of all imports subject to IEEPA duties. The remaining refunds may take months to process.

While the government works through the backlog, major delivery companies like UPS and FedEx have already announced plans to expedite refunds to their customers. FedEx stated,

"Our intent is straightforward: if refunds are issued to FedEx, we will issue refunds for IEEPA tariffs paid to the shippers and consumers who originally bore those charges."

"work to request and retrieve IEEPA tariff refunds from CBP on our customers' behalf" and then "issue refunds to the payors."

Despite these efforts, many consumers may still be left without restitution. This is due to the structure of tariffs, which were ultimately borne by American buyers. Research shows that businesses passed the cost of the tariffs to consumers through higher prices. A February paper by economists from the Federal Reserve and Columbia University found that Americans paid 94 percent of the tariffs' costs, with goods subject to tariffs seeing an 11 percent price increase compared to non-tariffed goods. In essence, the burden of Trump’s illegal tariffs was distributed across the U.S. economy.

Legally, refunds can only be issued to the importers of record—the entities that originally paid the tariffs. While companies like FedEx and UPS are taking steps to compensate customers, other businesses are exploring indirect ways to disperse refunds, similar to how the tariff costs were passed along. Ron Vachris, CEO of Costco,