The Court of International Trade (CIT) issued an order on March 4 instructing U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to refund tariffs from the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that such tariffs were unlawful. The CIT also ordered that any entries that liquidated within the last 90 days should be reliquidated voluntarily by CBP without IEEPA duties.
Senior Judge Richard Eaton also scheduled a conference for March 6 for the government to explain why it would be difficult to issue refunds on IEEPA tariffs that have already been collected by CBP and how CBP intends to process the refunds. We fully expect the government to appeal this order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Secretary Bessent Says Tariff Hike to Come This Week
Treasury Secretary Bessent said that President Trump’s plan to increase the 10% tariff rate to 15% will happen “likely sometime this week.” While some in the Administration, such as United States Trade Representative Greer last week, suggested the higher rate would not be universal, that has not yet been confirmed. Secretary Bessent did not address which countries the higher rate would apply to. The EU, for example, expects that it will not be subjected to the 15% duty, given its framework trade agreement.
