March 6 (Reuters) – The U.S. government has declined to refund tariffs the Supreme Court ruled illegal last month, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The customs officials are denying companies’ requests to recover duties imposed under emergency powers invoked by U.S. President Donald Trump, leaving businesses uncertain and driving more disputes into court, the FT said.
The U.S. government collected more than $130 billion in illegal tariff payments, which were central to Trump’s trade policy. The Supreme Court did not provide guidance for issuing refunds, creating confusion over how importers would be reimbursed.
On Wednesday, a U.S. trade court judge ordered the government to begin paying potentially billions of dollars in refunds to importers who paid tariffs.
Many companies have rushed to submit Post Summary Corrections to remove International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariff codes from shipment entries and seek refunds, but U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been rejecting those submissions and suspending protests filed over repayments of IEEPA tariffs that had already been liquidated, the FT said.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report. The White House and CBP did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
(Reporting by Devika Nair in BengaluruEditing by Tomasz Janowski)
