US Clears US$35.46 Billion Tariff Refunds For Importers So Far

NEW YORK, May 13 (Bernama-Xinhua) -- US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has processed US$35.46 billion worth of tariff refunds and associated interest due as of Monday, according to a court filing with the US Court of International Trade released Tuesday, reported Xinhua.

As of Monday, CBP had received 126,237 applications for refunds of tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump last year under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), and had validated 86,874 of them, according to the court filing.

In February, the US Supreme Court ruled that Trump's sweeping tariffs under IEEPA were unconstitutional, and the president did not have the authority to impose import tariffs on goods from nearly all the US trading partners.

It is estimated that up to US$166 billion of CBP collections from Trump's tariffs imposed under IEEPA are subject to refunds.

Soon after the Supreme Court ruling, Trump imposed a temporary global 10-per cent tariff under the Trade Act of 1974, which was struck down by the Court of International Trade again on May 7.

The trade court ruled that Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 allows tariffs only when there are "large and serious balance-of-payment deficits."

With tariff refunds now in process, some consumers are filing class action lawsuits to force paybacks of the pass-through costs to them, according to local media reports. 

--BERNAMA-XINHUA