CBP had certified about $127.7 billion in refunds of the emergency tariffs by October 23, The Loadstar reported on November 3. Not all of that money has reached the companies that paid it1. The report, based on court records, describes a banking-information bottleneck of nearly $1 billion1.
Two cautions apply to those figures. Only the opening of the Loadstar report was available for this article1. CBP's public media releases for late October and early November do not give a refund total4. The bigger picture is not in doubt: the government collected an estimated $166 billion in tariffs that the Supreme Court later struck down5.
Why the duties were unlawful
On February 20, the Supreme Court ruled in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, 607 U.S. 229 (2026), that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not allow the president to set tariffs unilaterally2. The Court affirmed the Court of International Trade's judgment in Trump v. V.O.S. Selections2.
The ruling voided the tariffs imposed under IEEPA, including the April 2025 "Liberation Day" reciprocal tariffs and the earlier Canada, Mexico and China orders2. It did not touch Section 232 duties on steel, aluminum and copper, which rest on a different law2.
What has been paid, and what has only been certified
Refunds run through the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries, or CAPE, a system CBP set up to refund importers of voided IEEPA duties6. CBP created it after the Supreme Court ruling6. An estimated $166 billion was collected from more than 330,000 businesses5.
The Loadstar reports that the money has moved at scale while some importers have still not been paid1. Certification is not the same as payment1. CBP has not set out a certified total or a paid total in the releases reviewed4.
Company disclosures show the money arriving in budgets. Helen of Troy, the maker of Hydro Flask bottles, expects an $80.5 million refund and plans to spend part of it on cleaning stock and refreshing packaging3. That is a forecast by the company, not a confirmed receipt.
The $1 billion bank-detail problem
CAPE is the route by which refunds are claimed and paid6. The Loadstar ties a backlog of nearly $1 billion to banking information1.
For finance teams, that points to a dull administrative task. Keep the bank record behind each importer's claims current, and check whether a broker or forwarder is handling the claim on the importer's behalf.
Who is entitled to the refund
The Supreme Court left the manner of repayment open2. The Loadstar reports a legal divide over entitlement that still leaves some importers waiting1.
That divide matters most in supply chains where the party that paid is not the party that bore the cost. A supplier or forwarder may clear the goods and pay duty at entry, then fold the charge into the delivered price. Where that happens, the refund can follow the payer rather than the buyer whose landed cost carried the duty. Buyers should check which entity filed the entry, and whether the contract says who keeps a refund if one arrives.
What to watch
The question is likely to return. The Court of International Trade found the Section 122 tariffs under the Trade Act of 1974, which replaced the IEEPA duties, illegal, and the case is being appealed5. If those duties also fall, a second refund programme would follow the same path.
For now, three things are confirmed: the IEEPA tariffs were unlawful2, the government collected an estimated $166 billion from more than 330,000 businesses5, and CBP has certified about $127.7 billion in refunds1. What is reported but not confirmed by a CBP statement is how much of that money has actually been paid, and the size of the banking-information backlog1, 4.