A federal appeals court late last week blocked an order that would have forced US Customs and Border Protection chief Rodney Scott to take the witness stand on Tuesday and explain how the administration is handling tariff refunds. Judge Richard Eaton had wanted Scott at the Court of International Trade to discuss compliance with an order that could require widespread repayments, but Scott's team objected and the appeals court stepped in.
The dispute is landing now because the stakes are not abstract. The government has reported more than $20 billion ordered in tariff refunds, and importers are trying to figure out what that means as they prepare for new tariffs later this summer. For businesses that are already shifting inventory, the White House tariff repayment strategy has become part legal fight, part cash-flow forecast.
That uncertainty is exactly what Joyce Adetutu says her clients keep pressing her about. “One thing that [clients] just keep asking me is how the timeline for these tariffs interacts with these challenges and appeals,” she said. “We're really encouraging folks to look at their supply chains critically,” and, for some, “the focus has really been on identifying lower-risk jurisdictions.”
Judge Eaton has also made clear he is dissatisfied with the pace of the government's response. The court has ordered widespread refunds, and Eaton has said the administration owes reimbursements to “all importers of record,” a position the government is likely to appeal. Even so, the appeals court's brief order has now interrupted the effort to get live testimony from the official who was supposed to explain where those refunds stand.
As of Monday morning, it was still unclear whether the hearing would go forward at all or whether a lower-level official would be sent in Scott's place. That question matters because government tariff revenue for May and trade deficit figures for April are due this week, data that should help show how much has actually been paid back while importers wait for a clearer read on the next round of tariffs tied to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.
The administration is already signaling that it will keep pressing its broader tariff agenda, including plans for 10% to 12.5% tariffs on all major trading partners later this summer. Oxford Economics has projected the effective US tariff rate will rise to 9.7% from 9.3% now, and Grace Zwemmer said a large set of exemptions means the increase will likely be modest in most cases. For importers, the immediate issue is not the forecast on paper but who shows up in court this week and whether the refund fight moves forward without Scott.
