Fox Rothschild’s International Trade Co-Chair Lizbeth R. Levinson has an update on IEEPA tariff refunds:
In what may be the single largest refund directive in the history of U.S. customs law, Judge Richard K. Eaton of the U.S. Court of International Trade on March 4 ordered U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to liquidate and reliquidate every entry subject to duties imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act—”without regard to the IEEPA duties.”
In plain English: give the money back. All of it. To everyone.
On Feb. 20, the Supreme Court ruled in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump that IEEPA tariffs were unlawful. What was less clear was what would happen next.
Judge Eaton answered that question with unusual speed and breadth, reasoning that every importer of record whose entries were hit with IEEPA duties is entitled to relief — and that the Supreme Court’s recent skepticism of universal injunctions in Trump v. CASA, Inc. simply does not apply to the Court of International Trade, which has exclusive, nationwide jurisdiction over customs disputes.
The government’s reply boiled down to a single, emphatic message: we can’t do this.
So Judge Eaton issued a new order suspending his amended March 4 directive “to the extent that it directs immediate compliance.”
Notably, the court did not vacate or withdraw the underlying order — it simply acknowledged that immediate execution is not feasible. Now CBP now has some breathing room.
Click here to read the full alert: Court Orders $166 Billion in Tariff Refunds — Then Pauses Them — in 48 Hours
View our alert on the initial decision here: International Trade Judge Orders Tariff Refunds