The Trump administration said Friday it will appeal a federal judge’s order that opened the door for all U.S. importers to seek tariff refunds, not just the companies that sued. The move keeps alive a fight over who can claim money from a pool now measured in the tens of billions, with the government still processing claims even as it tries to narrow the order.
The timing matters because Customs and Border Protection has already pushed a large share of the money through its refund system. A court filing dated May 26 said the agency’s CAPE process had accepted $85 billion in potential and certified refunds, and another filing said $20.6 billion had been sent to the Treasury Department for disbursement as of May 22. CAPE was built in April to handle applications from importers seeking a share of $166 billion in available refunds.
That is the backdrop for the Trump administration tariff refund dispute now heading into a new phase. In February, the Supreme Court struck down tariffs President Donald Trump imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, setting off the refund process. Judge Richard K. Eaton then went further, ordering relief that would extend beyond the plaintiffs and reach all potentially eligible importers, a pool the government says could include about 330,000 U.S. businesses.
Rodney Scott, the CBP commissioner, was at the center of one of the sharpest points of friction in the case. The Justice Department objected when Eaton wanted Scott to appear in the U.S. Court of International Trade to explain how long it would take to repay all 330,000 potentially eligible importers, arguing the court had gone too far and that CBP cannot reliquidate or refund money without a court order. Eaton denied that request, saying Scott’s answers would help determine whether the administration intended to fully refund all revenue collected from the IEEPA tariffs.
The government is now doing two things at once: continuing to run refunds through CAPE while asking a higher court to block or limit Eaton’s broader order. That split captures the practical stakes of the case. If the appeal succeeds, the refund pool could stay tied to the suing importers. If it fails, the government may have to decide how to extend payments across a far wider group of businesses, while also facing a legal system that has already ruled against parts of Trump’s tariff program and is still reviewing others.
Trump has repeatedly signaled he would push back against the Supreme Court’s tariff ruling, saying shortly after the decision that it would take years to litigate the refunds. Since then, the White House has imposed new levies under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act and Section 122, and last month the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled the Section 122 tariffs were illegal. The next step in this case is the appeal itself. What remains unresolved is whether the refund process will slow while that fight is underway, or keep moving until a court says otherwise.
