The United States Government, led by Donald Trump, began this Monday the refund of nearly 166 billion dollars in unduly collected tariffs following the Supreme Court’s decision last February that declared them illegal.
Companies began this Monday to request the millionaire refunds through the online platform made available by the US Administration: the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries System (CAPE).
The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported that companies whose applications are validated will be able to receive the refund of tariffs, plus interest, within approximately 60 to 90 days.
The claimants are not only small businesses that had to pay more for the products they imported to sell in the United States; they are also giants like Walmart, the world’s largest physical distribution company, or Target, another supermarket giant in the country.
According to a Citi report published a week ago, analysts expect Walmart to receive refunds of around 10.2 billion dollars; Target to recover about 2.2 billion, and sportswear firm Nike to achieve about 1 billion dollars. The report also calculated refunds for the Kohl’s group of 550 million and another 500 million for Gap. Department store chain Macy’s could obtain about 400 million from tariff refunds.
The Supreme Court’s decision on import duties, wrongly called reciprocal, approved by Trump on Liberation Day, February 2, 2025, represents a tremendous blow to the country’s public coffers, which are burdened by a public deficit of around 7% of GDP.
Tariffs are nothing more than taxes on imports, which fell mainly on American businesses and consumers. Trump established new duties of between 10% and 50% of imports depending on the country of origin. Many companies were forced to raise prices to avoid incurring losses; others were able to absorb them through their profit margin.
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The refund of tariffs to more than 300,000 importing companies is considered the largest refund program in history. Legal experts believe that the refunds will not affect consumers, despite several groups of them having gone to court to claim reimbursement because they believe they bore them through a price increase. This is the case of several customers of the distribution giant Costco, who sued the group a month ago in a federal court in Illinois. Other consumers have also sued the courier group FedEx or the manufacturer of Ray-Ban, EssilorLuxottica, among others.
The Trump Administration does not have to refund all collected duties. The Supreme Court’s decision refers to reciprocal tariffs, those approved under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977. The justices considered that this law was intended for other purposes and the Administration needs Congress’s approval to pass such a measure.
Customs officials revealed that as of April 9, some 56,497 importing companies had submitted the necessary applications to receive electronic refunds, totaling 127 billion dollars, representing more than three-quarters of the total refundable, according to Reuters.
The refunds will be made in several phases. First, importers who registered on the electronic platform of the Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP) will be able to request a refund. The Administration plans to process refunds in phases, prioritizing the most recent payments, explains the AP agency.
Rick Woldenberg, CEO of educational toy manufacturer Learning Resources, the company that took Trump’s tariffs to the Supreme Court and won the battle, has requested a refund. He explains that some colleagues have complained that the Customs and Border Protection website has had some problems. “I think it was like everyone was queuing up for Taylor Swift tickets: everyone hit the button at once,” Woldenberg told Reuters. Learning Resources is claiming about 10 million dollars in refunds.
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