Last Tuesday, the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) held a hearing to discuss whether U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) should immediately begin refunding IEEPA tariffs to all importers. While the court did not lift its current stay, the hearing provided valuable insight into CBP’s future refund plans.

WHERE THINGS STAND

CBP confirmed that it intends to continue rolling out its CAPE refund program—good news for entries already filed in CAPE—and remains committed to complying with any final court orders.

Phase 1

Phase 1 is moving along well with nearly 8.5M entries processed and approximately $94.4B approved for refund. Refunds are continuing to be processed.

Phase 2: Going Live June 29

This phase focuses on reconciliation entries and benefits importers who:

  • Have entries flagged for reconciliation
  • Have not yet filed their reconciliation entry, and
  • Have entries that are either still unliquidated or liquidated within 80 days of the CAPE claim filing (entries from Feb–May 2025 will likely not qualify)

Phase 3: Expected Late July 2026

Based on Tuesday’s testimony, this phase is expected to cover:

  • Entries that are fully liquidated (more than 80 days past liquidation), and
  • Importers who have filed their own refund lawsuit and are plaintiffs before the Court of International Trade

This is a significant distinction. If implemented as described, importers with pending CIT lawsuits may have a path to recovering all eligible IEEPA tariffs regardless of liquidation status through CAPE.

WHAT ABOUT IMPORTERS WHO HAVE NOT FILED SUIT?

The Department of Justice continues to argue that the CIT cannot order refunds for companies that are not plaintiffs. That issue will likely be decided by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and could take a year or more.

Although there is an effort to certify a class action that could potentially extend relief more broadly, the CIT did not address that issue.

WHAT SHOULD AN IMPORTER DO?

Given the continued legal uncertainty, we encourage importers to take proactive steps to preserve their refund rights:

  1. File protests whenever available to preserve administrative rights on eligible entries that have not already been filed in CAPE. (Please be aware that, with consideration to the pending appeal process, duty refunds will likely be very slow.)
  2. Evaluate the duty refund potential for your outstanding entries and, if significant, strongly consider filing an individual lawsuit with the Court of International Trade (CIT) to protect refund claims for fully liquidated entries not previously filed in CAPE.

While CBP’s continued rollout of CAPE is encouraging, the combination of liquidation deadlines, eligibility limitations, and ongoing litigation creates meaningful risk for importers with entries on the sidelines.

As always, Shapiro will keep you apprised of all new developments. Please do not hesitate to reach out to [email protected] with any questions.