The Push for Refunds for Everyone!

Importers seeking IEEPA tariff refunds are pushing hard to ensure that relief extends to all businesses that paid the unlawful duties. Following the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Trump v. V.O.S. Selections, Inc., the litigation has shifted to a critical tactical battle: enforcing a universal refund mechanism and overcoming the government’s resistance to paying out the wider importing community.

The primary dispute now centers on the path to a refund for importers whose entries have been liquidated for more than 90 days. Because these entries are past the 90-day window, they are no longer eligible for administrative reliquidation by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) under 19 U.S.C. § 1501.

For importers with entries trapped in this category, the traditional administrative route is closed. Instead, their statutory recourse is to file an independent lawsuit in the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) invoking the court’s residual jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1581(i).

Given that the Supreme Court has already definitively ruled that the executive branch lacked the authority to impose these tariffs under IEEPA, an independent CIT lawsuit should be legally straightforward. However, trade compliance experts note that pursuing this path in practice is proving difficult. Many eligible importers either lack the specialized technical understanding to realize they are owed money, or they are highly hesitant to incur the upfront legal costs required to chase the relief.