A US federal appeals court has cleared the way for the refund process related to the country-specific tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) by the Trump administration.
According to court filings, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has rejected a request from the US Department of Justice (DOJ) to delay the process for 90 days. The ruling allows the US Court of International Trade (CIT) to begin determining the mechanism for issuing refunds.
Billions of dollars potentially at stake
While the Supreme Court invalidated the tariffs, it did not determine how refunds would be handled. A study with data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shows that about $142 billion in duties were collected under IEEPA in 2025. Importers of commodities such as pig iron and iron ore are among those expected to benefit from refunds.
However, legal experts note that the refund process could take years, referencing a previous tariff refund case from 1998 that took seven years to resolve and was substantially less in value than what's at stake with the IEEPA tariffs.
