US$35.5 billion in tariff refunds finalized, U.S. customs agency says

Shipping containers in the Port of Montreal are photographed. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press)

The U.S. customs agency has processed refunds including interest worth US$35.46 billion as of May 11 for tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump last year that were deemed illegal, according to a Tuesday court filing.

As of 7 a.m. ET on May 11, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection had received 126,237 applications for refunds covering an undisclosed number of shipments or entries, according to the court filing.

The agency said it had validated 86,874 of those applications covering 15.1 million entries which were eligible for refunds. Of that total, 8.3 million shipments have been finalized and the expected refund with interest had been calculated, totalling $35.46 billion, according to a declaration from Brandon Lord, a CBP official, that was filed with the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York.

The tariff refund report comes as major importers from carmakers to sportswear company Under Armour have said they expect a profit boost from tariff reimbursements.

Up to $166 billion of CBP collections from Trump’s tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act or IEEPA are subject to CBP refunds. The Supreme Court ruled in February that Trump overstepped his authority in using the 1977 sanctions law to impose tariffs.

After the Supreme Court ruling, Trump imposed a temporary global 10 per cent tariff. Those levies were deemed illegal by the trade court last week, although the ruling was narrowly applied to two small businesses and the state of Washington, which were the plaintiffs in the legal challenge. The Trump administration has appealed that ruling.

(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Daniel Wallis)