The administration had been ordered to return about US$166 billion
Richard Eaton, senior judge on the US Court of International Trade, has extended the US administration’s deadline for refunding about US$166 billion in tariffs, reported the Wall Street Journal.
Eaton had originally ordered US Customs and Border Protection to begin the refunding process at the start of the month after the US Supreme Court struck down global tariffs set by president Donald Trump on February 20. Eaton’s written order was issued after a hearing involving a filtration company that was seeking a tariff refund.
The administration has been inundated with lawsuits from companies like Costco, FedEx, and Pandora Jewelry – all looking to get their money back since Eaton’s order meant that everyone who had paid tariffs was entitled to a refund. Barnes, Richardson & Colburn partner Larry Friedman said in a statement published by WSJ that the order was one he had hoped for, “but never expected to see.”
A US Customs and Border Protection official indicated in a legal filing that its system could not handle the volume of work. Justice department lawyer Claudia Burke had previously told Eaton that refund processes would be challenging for the Customs and Border Protection agency given that it would have to manually delve into import entries numbering in the millions.
Eaton had responded that “in the age of computers,” the agency must be capable of programming computers to eliminate the manual aspect of the process, per a statement published by WSJ.
Trump had previously slammed Supreme Court justices for failing to issue clear directions on the refunds process and suggested that he would not rush officials on developing such a process. However, government lawyers had initially told lower courts in a statement published by WSJ that that should the tariffs be struck down, companies could be “made whole through a refund, including interest.”
