The Trump Tariff Refund Process Just Got a Lot More Complex

March 13, 2026

Just when the market thought that the Trump Tariff story couldn’t get any more interesting, the White House, and any company that paid higher tariffs under the President’s Tariff Tiff last year, could face even bigger problems. This new twist is happening as companies seek refunds for the higher tariffs they paid to the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) service, which resulted from the Trump Administration invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to increase tariffs on most U.S. trading partners last year. Those tariffs were ruled illegal and struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) in a February ruling. President Trump subsequently issued an Executive Order terminating the IEEPA tariffs.

Now, the process for distributing refunds for the tariffs paid falls to the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) for a ruling on who gets what and when. Retailers and vendors that import directly from manufacturers outside the U.S. are already attempting to calculate what they have coming from the estimated $135 billion to over $200 billion total impact of the tariffs, plus interest and penalties, one would assume.

But not so fast. There’s a fly in the ointment, and everything is not as it seems. SGB MEDIA