US judge orders refunds for more than $130bn in illegal Trump tariffs

"Richard Eaton, a judge of the US Court of International Trade in Manhattan, ordered the government to finalize the cost of bringing millions of shipments into the US without assessing a tariff, according to a court filing. He ordered the refunds to be made with interest. When merchandise is brought into the United States, an importer pays an estimated amount at entry which is then finalized around 314 days later, a process known as liquidation."

"Customs knows how to do this, he told a court hearing on Wednesday, according to a recording on the court's website. He said the agency should be able to program its system to issue refunds, which are regularly issued when an importer overpays on an estimated duty. They do it every day. They liquidate entries and make refunds, he said."

"Customs and Border Protection has said in court filings that the task of finalizing entry costs without assessing a tariff was unprecedented in scale and could require manual review of more than 70m entries. The agency had said in other court filings it wanted up to four months to assess its options for paying refunds."

A US Court of International Trade judge ordered the government to begin paying potentially billions of dollars in refunds to importers who paid tariffs deemed illegally collected by the Supreme Court. The judge directed Customs and Border Protection to finalize the cost of bringing millions of shipments into the US without assessing tariffs and to issue refunds with interest. The standard import process involves importers paying an estimated amount at entry, with final costs determined approximately 314 days later through liquidation. The judge stated CBP possesses the technical capability to program its system to issue refunds, as it regularly does when importers overpay estimated duties. CBP claimed the task was unprecedented in scale, potentially requiring manual review of over 70 million entries, and requested up to four months to assess refund payment options.

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