The Refund Nobody Filed For

The Court of International Trade certified a class of importers on Thursday, 8 October, in Slip Opinion 26-123, allowing them to pursue refunds of tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, Supply Chain Dive reported. On 20 February the Supreme Court held in Learning Resources v. Trump that the act does not authorise the president to impose tariffs. The class covers importers who paid the duties between 1 February 2025 and 19 February 2026, the day before that ruling, and excludes anyone who has filed a separate suit. The order says that as of 7 October more than 4,000 such suits had been filed, involving around 7,000 plaintiffs.

Why a class

After the ruling the trade court ordered Customs and Border Protection to refund the duties. When that order was issued on 4 March, the order recounts, an estimated $166 billion had been collected on 53 million entries from roughly 330,000 importers of record. The agency built a processing portal known as CAPE, for Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries. Press figures for refunds paid have varied, from over $100 billion in Supply Chain Dive to around $130 billion in Sourcing Journal. The order cites a sworn declaration by a CBP official: as of 2 October, about $136.6 billion in potential and certified refunds had been accepted for processing in CAPE, and about $126 billion in duties plus interest had been refunded.

Judge Richard K. Eaton wrote in the slip order that the voluntary route will run out. “Some importers of record have not taken advantage of CAPE,” he wrote. “It is believed that these are overwhelmingly small importers who, because of the cost or effort involved in filing a CAPE declaration, or because they are unaware of the program, will never take advantage of CAPE.” The portal also does not accept certain categories of entries, such as finally liquidated entries from importers that have not sued.

The gap, on the court’s account, is about $30 billion. “Were CAPE to cease to function today approximately $30 billion in unlawfully collected duties would remain on deposit in the Treasury,” the order says. Eaton wrote: “Should further action not be taken, we are left with the prospect of the U.S. Department of the Treasury… retaining billions of dollars of unlawfully collected duties, and tens of thousands of importers of record being denied the liquidation or the reliquidation of their entries.” He added: “Today, the court is certifying a class in the hope, and expectation, that this certification will lead to the liquidation or reliquidation of all of the entries on which the unlawful IEEPA duties were imposed, and the refund of those duties to the importers of record that paid them.”

What the order does not do

Certification is not a refund order. James Kim, an international trade partner at ArentFox Schiff, wrote on LinkedIn: “The decision doesn’t immediately expand refund eligibility or direct payment. It does, however, create a potential path forward for non-litigants, toward a single order requiring refunds to be issued to importers that have not pursued individual lawsuits.”

The case has a short calendar. The order sets a closed conference with the parties for Tuesday, 13 October, and gives them until 22 October to submit a proposed scheduling order, including the date by which the government will answer or otherwise respond to the class action complaint. Law.com reported that co-lead class counsel believe this is the first time the trade court has certified a class in active litigation.

The appeal that overlaps

The Justice Department is still appealing the order that requires CBP to refund all finally liquidated entries. The order says the government appealed that part of it to the Federal Circuit on 3 June, that both sides have filed briefs and that a decision will come in due course. The department argues that the court may order such refunds only for importers who have sued, Supply Chain Dive reported. On Kim’s description, a class offers a path for the importers who have not. Neither the order nor the press coverage says how the two tracks will fit together.

Sources

The class definition, the quotations from the order, the date of the Supreme Court ruling, the suit and plaintiff counts, the $166 billion estimate, CBP’s refund totals as of 2 October, the $30 billion figure, the conference and filing deadlines and the status of the appeal are from the court’s Slip Opinion 26-123 in Freestyle World, Inc. v. United States, No. 26-01088, dated 8 October 2026. The press refund figures and the government’s jurisdictional argument are from Supply Chain Dive and Sourcing Journal. Kim’s statement is from both. The first-time certification claim is from Law.com.