White House faces thousands of lawsuits as it tries to slow-walk tariff refunds

The Trump administration is attempting to delay the process for repaying importers for duties the Supreme Court struck down last month.

A person walks past the United States Court of International Trade. | Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Businesses are giving up hope the Trump administration will quickly issue refunds for the billions of dollars paid in tariffs the Supreme Court invalidated last month. Now they’re lawyering up and preparing for a drawn-out legal fight.

In the immediate aftermath of the Feb. 20 ruling, major trade groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce called for “swift” and “seamless” refunds of more than $130 billion in duties collected during the president’s second term. The administration, however, is working to slow them down — on Monday, an appeals court denied its request to delay refund proceedings until around June — while privately weighing options to delay refunds indefinitely.

According to court filings and half a dozen trade and customs experts, more than 2,000 refund-related cases are now pending at the New York-based U.S. Court of International Trade — a number that has grown by dozens since the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s global duties imposed under a 1977 emergency law. Trade attorneys say they’re fielding a surge of calls from companies racing to take legal action to keep their refund claims from expiring.

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