How refunds for Trump's tariffs will work

Businesses who paid Trump’s tariffs can now apply for refunds.

In February, the Supreme Court ruled that the president had overstepped his power in enacting his tariffs without clear authorization from Congress.

“Just to give some scope to the size of what we're dealing with here, more than 300,000 importers had brought in some 53 million shipments that were subject to these tariffs under IEEPA (International Economic Emergency Powers Act),” said Liz Young, a logistics reporter for The Wall Street Journal Logistics Report and Dow Jones Risk Journal.

On Monday, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) launched the “CAPE” (Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries) system, an online portal that will begin processing the large number of expected tariff reimbursement claims from companies across the country.

Young says in this first phase, only direct importers and customs brokers are eligible.

“These shipments cover the bulk of what was brought in during the IEEPA tariffs, but not everything. Customs has said they're still working to figure out some of the more nitty gritty in the weeds shipment types that will still be eligible for refund claims at a later point,”she said.

At the moment, there are no plans for consumers to get refunds. They aren’t eligible to access the portal. But some parcel carriers, like FedEx and UPS, have released public statements this week that they plan to file claims for refunds and then handle the process of issuing money back to shoppers who purchased through their parcel carriers.

Sign up for Here's The Deal with Lisa Desjardins

Subscribe for exclusive content in our newsletters

PBS News podcasts

Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app

Find more from PBS News at

Subscribe to our YouTube channel