US authorities begin repaying court-overturned tariffs

The US authorities have started the repayment process for the tariffs that were declared illegal by the Supreme Court two months ago. Initially, those US companies can request a refund for transactions whose customs formalities have not yet been completed or if the goods in question were imported less than 80 days ago, the US Customs Authority CBP announced on Monday. If the application is approved, repayment should be made within 60 to 90 days.

On February 20, the US Supreme Court declared a large part of the tariffs introduced by US President Donald Trump to be unlawful. The CBP then asked for an extension of the deadline for the repayments in order to first put the appropriate procedures in place. According to court documents, as of April 9, nearly 56,500 companies had already taken steps to seek refunds on tariffs paid totaling about $127 billion.

The agency must now examine records on more than 53 million goods imported into the United States. In total, CBP estimates that 330,000 businesses have been affected. The tariffs paid generated $166 billion in revenue for the US budget and could now be refunded. Following the ruling in February, Trump immediately imposed new tariffs based on a different law.