U.S. Customs and Border Protection has cleared $35.5 billion in tariff refunds for importers since launching an online portal last month to process claims stemming from the Supreme Court's ruling that struck down President Donald Trump's signature trade policy, according to a new court filing.
Brandon Lord, CBP's executive director of trade programs, said the payments cover more than 8 million import entries and carry interest on the duties that were originally collected. The agency's Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries portal — known as CAPE — went live on April 20 and had received roughly 126,000 declarations by May 11, of which nearly 87,000 had passed validation and been forwarded to the Treasury Department for payment. The filing noted that payment on roughly 1,880 consolidated refunds remained on hold, with no bank account information on file for those importers.
The refunds cover duties collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA. In a 6-3 decision handed down Feb. 20, the Supreme Court found that Trump's use of IEEPA as a vehicle for tariff collection exceeded the statute's authority. Because the ruling said nothing about reimbursement, the question of how refunds would be structured fell to the lower courts.
CBP opened the CAPE portal on April 20 to handle claims on about $166 billion in overturned duties collected from roughly 330,000 businesses. The agency said valid refunds would be issued within 60 to 90 days of a claim's acceptance. On the portal's first day, some importers reported error messages and technical difficulties as high traffic volume strained the system.
The Trump administration had resisted the refund process before it began. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called the payments "corporate welfare," and Trump described them as an "undeserved windfall." A federal judge ultimately ordered the administration to begin building the refund infrastructure, and a judge at the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that companies subjected to the tariffs were entitled to repayment.
CBP has said the first phase of CAPE covers only a subset of entries — specifically those that are unliquidated or fall within an 80-day window following a final accounting. Entries involving reconciliation, open protests, or antidumping and countervailing duties present added complexity and are being considered for later phases, though the agency has not announced when those phases will open.
All refunds are required to be paid electronically, and CBP will hold payments for any importer that has not yet submitted bank account information through the agency's secure portal.