The Trump administration has refunded USD 100 billion of tariffs after the Supreme Court invalidated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act regime in February 2025, though more than USD 66 billion remains outstanding across 330,000+ importers.
The Trump Administration has disbursed roughly USD 100 billion in refunds from tariffs the Supreme Court invalidated in February, according to a court filing released 5 August 2025.
The figure represents about 60% of the USD 166 billion the government collected before the high court ruled against the tariff regime in late February.
The tariffs fell under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which the Supreme Court determined does not grant the president unilateral power to impose duties on imports. Judge Richard Eaton subsequently ordered that all IEEPA-collected tariffs be returned to importers.
The refund machinery
Customs and Border Protection rolled out a system called Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) in late April to manage the refunds. By 31 July, CAPE had received 252,496 refund declarations covering more than 25 million import entries.
Of the approximately USD 129 billion flagged for processing, roughly USD 100 billion had been certified and sent to the Treasury Department for disbursement.
The remaining work is substantial. More than 330,000 importers paid IEEPA tariffs across roughly 53 million entries, meaning the refund operation is only partway through.
What comes next
Trump has responded to the Supreme Court’s decision by pivoting to alternative legal grounds, deploying tariffs under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974—a mechanism no previous president had used for broad tariff imposition. These new duties are already facing court challenges of their own.
The refund process itself is being contested. Freestyle World, a California importer, filed a class action lawsuit arguing that smaller businesses face barriers accessing refunds through CAPE. The government disputes both the timing and validity of that claim.
Earlier, Judge Richard K. Eaton of the U.S. Court of International Trade issued an order on 4 March 2026 directing U.S. Customs and Border Protection to refund duties collected under Executive Orders issued pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
