Importers rush to prepare for federal tariff refund portal launch

U.S. importers are racing to get ready for a federal portal that could return up to $166 billion in tariffs the Supreme Court said were illegally collected. The money is tied to duties on most Canadian and Mexican imports, most Chinese imports and nearly all reciprocal tariffs, making the first wave of claims one of the biggest trade refunds in modern U.S. customs history.

The system, called CAPE, will open Monday inside Customs and Border Protection’s Automated Commercial Environment and is meant to replace the old entry-by-entry scramble with a single electronic refund process that can include interest. CBP has said the first phase will be limited to certain unliquidated entries and certain entries within 80 days of liquidation, and that accepted declarations will remove the IEEPA tariff line and recalculate the entry without those duties.

The scale is enormous. More than 330,000 importers paid the tariffs on 53 million shipments, and CBP said 56,497 importers had already completed the steps needed to receive electronic refunds, covering about $127 billion. CBP’s own guidance says CAPE declarations will be filed as CSV files through ACE Portal accounts, not through ABI, with each filing capped at 9,999 entries. Importers also must enroll bank accounts for ACH payments, a requirement that industry lawyers say could determine whether money moves quickly or sits in limbo.

Some of the biggest gains should land first with companies that imported large volumes of consumer goods, vehicles and industrial products under the disputed tariff regime. Basic Fun chief executive Jay Foreman said he was “locked and loaded” for the system but worried officials could “jam things up.” Oshkosh chief financial officer Matt Field said his company was ready to file but might wait for the system to settle before moving.

The refund rush follows the Supreme Court’s Feb. 20 decision in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, argued Nov. 5, that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the president to impose tariffs. In March, the Court of International Trade ordered CBP to liquidate and, where appropriate, reliquidate entries without IEEPA duties, later broadening the order to cover all IEEPA duties. Atmus Filtration was later dismissed, and Euro-Notions Florida became the lead case.

Beyond the paperwork, the question is where the money goes next. Refunds could strengthen cash flow, reduce pressure on corporate margins and free up capital for inventory, pricing or new investment. If the money is slow to arrive, interest will keep accruing, but the bigger economic effect may be how quickly importers can turn a legal victory into balance-sheet relief.