The federal government must begin the process of refunding tariffs charged under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act that the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled illegal, according to a U.S. trade court judge.

On Wednesday, Judge Richard Eaton of the U.S. Court of International Trade ordered the government to finalize the cost of bringing millions of shipments into the U.S. without assessing a tariff, Reuters reported.

Even companies who didn’t file a lawsuit at the U.S. Court of International Trade are owed a refund, the judge ordered, and those refunds are to be made with interest.

“All importers of record whose entries were subject to IEEPA duties are entitled to the benefit of the Learning Resources decision,” Eaton said in his order in favor of Atmus Filtration’s suit seeking a refund.

  • Atmus’ lawsuit is among the roughly 2,000 that have been filed with the trade court seeking ​a refund from the Trump administration.
  • Last week, FedEx vowed to pass along any refunds it receives from the government to “shippers and consumers who originally bore those charges.”


“Customs ⁠knows how to do this,” Eaton added, according to a recording on the court’s website. He said the agency ​should be able to program its system to issue refunds, which are regularly issued when an importer overpays on an estimated duty.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection previously said in court filings that the ​task of finalizing entry costs without assessing a tariff was “unprecedented” in scale and could require manual review of more than 70 million entries, according to Reuters. The ​agency had hoped it would get “up to four months” to assess its options for issuing refunds.

Eaton also set a hearing for Friday in which he asked for updates on CBP’s refund plans. He said in his order that the court’s chief judge indicated that Eaton is the only judge who will hear tariff refund cases.

  • The U.S. government has collected more than $130 billion in illegal tariff payments, ​Reuters reported.
  • More than 300,000 importers, including many in the branded merchandise industry, paid the tariffs. 


Tariffs Still In Effect

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has confirmed that tariff policy will continue by using alternate statutory tools, primarily Sections 122 and 301.

  • Section 122 allows up to 10% tariffs, which have gone into effect, for approximately 150 days. This time-limited authority creates a defined planning window for importers of branded merch.
  • Section 122 tariffs can only be extended by an act of Congress, making tariff policy a likely legislative issue this summer.
  • The Trump administration also plans to use Section 301 investigations to sustain tariffs long term. These processes require hearings and public comment and can take up to a year, creating a formal opportunity for industry engagement.


On Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that President Donald Trump’s recently announced 15% global tariffs will likely be implemented this week, rising from its current rate of 10%. Bessent also predicted that U.S. tariff rates would, by August, return to where they stood before the recent Supreme Court ruling.

PPAI will continue to advocate for predictable and balanced trade frameworks that support U.S. decoration, logistics and distribution jobs, says Alok Bhat, market economist and PPAI’s research and public affairs lead. After all, policy stability remains the core business priority for our industry.

“In coordination with our lobbying partner, Thorn Run Partners, we are reinforcing Capitol Hill messaging that trade predictability protects American jobs across decoration, logistics and distribution,” Bhat says, “and we are closely monitoring any congressional action related to tariff authority.”