Companies will receive a refund of $166 billion in tariffs within 45 days that were declared illegal by the U.S. Supreme Court, according to a statement from U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Brandon Lord, sent to the Supreme Court.
The Customs Service is moving forward with a simplified tariff refund mechanism, which is 60-85% complete, but the new system could take up to 45 days to review and process applications.
Lord said the system will begin accepting refund applications in phases, prioritizing customs declarations issued in the previous 80 days that have been “suspended“, “extended“ or “under review“.
The Customs Service noted that more than 26,000 importers have already registered to receive electronic refunds of duties worth about $120 billion. According to US authorities, importers spent a total of $166 billion on duties that courts later recognized as illegal.
On February 20, the US Supreme Court recognized the introduction of import duties on other countries by current US President Donald Trump under the pretext of the Economic Measures Act in case of international emergencies as an abuse of power. At the same time, the highest court did not explain whether the US administration must return the funds previously paid as duties. Then the US leader signed an executive order introducing duties on imports from all countries in the amount of 10%. Then he announced his intention to increase these duties to 15%. Global tariffs on US imports of 10% went into effect on February 24. The measure is set to remain in effect for 150 days, until July 24.