CBP Says It Will Start Issuing First Refunds of Trump Tariffs on May 12

Customs and Border Protection was initially expected to start issuing refunds on May 11, but the timeline has now been delayed by a day.

Shipping containers are stacked at a terminal at the port of Los Angeles in Long Beach, Calif., on March 10, 2026. Caroline Brehman/Reuters

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said on May 4 that the first batch of refunds from tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, which the Supreme Court struck down in February, would begin on May 12.

The agency said in a Monday bulletin to importers on the cargo systems messaging service that the tariff refunds would be issued through an automated clearing system.

According to an April 28 order from the U.S. Court of ‌International ⁠Trade, the CBP was initially expected to start issuing refunds on May 11, but the timeline has now been delayed by a day without any explanation.

On April 20, the agency launched the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) system, designed to allow businesses to seek refunds for tariffs they paid under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

Trump last year invoked the IEEPA to impose tariffs on trading partners, citing the need to regulate international transactions to respond to “an unusual and extraordinary threat” to national security. But the Supreme Court ruled on Feb. 20 that the law does not clearly authorize the president to impose tariffs.

The CBP stated on its website that it would implement the CAPE in phases, with the first phase covering “certain unliquidated entries and certain entries within 80 days of liquidation.”

The system is designed to “consolidate refunds of IEEPA duties including interest rather than processing refunds on an entry-by-entry basis,” according to the CBP.

“Importers and authorized brokers should anticipate that valid IEEPA refunds will generally be issued within 60 - 90 days following acceptance of the CAPE declaration, unless a compliance concern requires further CBP review, ” the agency stated on its website.

“However, certain scenarios, such as entries that are extended, suspended or under review, and warehouse entries, will maintain their liquidation status with validated refunds issued at liquidation.”

Judge Richard Eaton of the U.S. Court of International Trade said in an April 28 order that the CBP has accepted about 21 percent of entries subject to IEEPA duties, of which roughly 3 percent “have been liquidated through CAPE and are in the refund stage of the process.”

Eaton ordered the agency to submit a report on the progress of the CAPE’s first phase on May 12.

In a court filing dated March 6, Brandon Lord, the CBP’s executive director of trade policy and programs, said the agency was dealing with “an unprecedented volume of refunds,” with more than 330,000 importers filing about 53 million entries in which they deposited or paid tariffs imposed pursuant to IEEPA as of March 4, which amounted to $166 billion.