US Supreme Court Rules Trump Administration's IEEPA Tariffs Illegal; $100 Billion Refunded

US Customs and Border Protection said in a filing submitted on Tuesday to the US Court of International Trade that the Trump administration has refunded about $100 billion in tariffs, or roughly 60% of the $165 billion collected under the "Liberation Day" tariffs. In February 2026, the US Supreme Court ruled that the administration's use of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs on trading partners was illegal. A lower-court judge subsequently ordered CBP to process tariff refunds.

In the court filing, CBP said more than $128 billion in refund applications have been "accepted and entered processing." After the ruling, CBP established a new refund channel, but only "importers of record" are eligible to submit claims through its website. That threshold excludes many small businesses that did not directly import goods but indirectly bore the tariff burden through higher procurement costs or itemized surcharges. Other small businesses said they were unaware of how to claim refunds or lacked the resources and capacity to complete the process.

The Trump administration last week began invoking other legal provisions to impose a new round of tariffs of 10% to 12.5% on more than 60 economies. The latest tariffs have already drawn at least three separate legal challenges, including one filed by the legal team that previously succeeded in challenging the "Liberation Day" tariffs before the Supreme Court.