Trump administration refunds $100B in ‘liberation day’ tariffs

Aug. 5 (UPI) — The Trump administration revealed it has refunded about $100 billion in tariffs it collected before the Supreme Court ruled in February that doing so violated federal law.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced the figure in a filing Tuesday with the U.S. Court of International Trade. In it, Brandon Lord, executive director of the CBP’s Trade Programs Directorate in the Office of Trade, said the refunds have been sent to the Treasury Department for disbursement.

President Donald Trump announced the new so-called “liberation day” tariffs in April 2025, including 10% tariffs for most nations that export goods to the United States. He also imposed punitive reciprocal tariffs for 60 nations that impose tariffs and other trade barriers on U.S.-produced goods.

Within weeks, U.S. companies filed a lawsuit, saying Trump didn’t have the authority to impose the tariffs without congressional approval. They said the tariffs directly threatened their finances.

The Supreme Court agreed in February, saying he couldn’t use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to generate revenue through tariffs. The high court ordered the administration to refund the $165 billion collected from the liberation day tariffs.

The $100 billion refunded in Tuesday’s filing represents about 60% of that total.

The filing said the CBP began using a system it calls the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries to process and disburse refunds. Lord said the system has received more than 250,000 tariff refund declarations, and about $129 billion in “both potential and certified refunds” were being processed through CAPE.