Why It Matters
More than $145 billion in tariff payments — ruled unlawful by the U.S. Supreme Court — remains unrefunded to American importers, many of them small businesses. The slow pace of repayment is drawing scrutiny from Congress and raising concerns about the economic burden on the roughly 330,000 businesses waiting for money back.
What Happened
Two senior Senate Democrats sent a formal letter Wednesday to U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott, demanding the agency accelerate refunds to businesses that overpaid tariffs now deemed illegal.
Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Edward Markey of Massachusetts — the ranking Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, respectively — wrote that the pace of refunds is unacceptable and questioned whether delays are deliberate.
“This entire episode raises serious questions about whether the Administration is intentionally slowing the refund process in order to retain access to unlawfully collected funds for as long as possible,” the senators wrote.
The letter follows a February Supreme Court ruling that found President Trump’s broad global tariffs, implemented under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in early 2025, were illegal. The U.S. Court of International Trade subsequently directed CBP to issue refunds. The agency launched a processing tool called the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries — or CAPE — in April to handle the claims.
By the Numbers
American importers collectively paid roughly $166 billion in tariffs under the authority the Supreme Court struck down. Of that total:
$20.6 billion had been refunded as of a May 26 court filing — just over 12 percent of the total owed. Another $85 billion was described as being in a processing stage, while more than $60 billion had not yet entered the refund pipeline at all.
Approximately 330,000 importers are eligible to submit refund requests through the CAPE system. The senators set a deadline of June 24 for CBP to provide a written response outlining how and when the agency plans to complete the refund process.
Zoom Out
The unresolved refunds come as inflation remains elevated. U.S. inflation climbed to 4.2% in May, the highest rate in three years, with energy costs a significant driver. Businesses still awaiting tariff refunds face a dual squeeze: higher operating costs and delayed reimbursement of money the government collected without legal authority.
The tariff dispute reflects a broader national debate over presidential trade authority and the limits of emergency economic powers. The Supreme Court’s February ruling set a significant precedent, but the administrative challenge of processing refunds at this scale — across hundreds of thousands of claimants — has created a backlog with real financial consequences for businesses that front-loaded tariff payments.
Small importers, which typically operate with tighter cash flow than large corporations, are disproportionately affected by the delays. Wyden and Markey emphasized that point directly: “Small businesses deserve better, and the CBP needs to answer for this debacle.”
What’s Next
CBP has been given until June 24 to respond in writing to the senators’ demands. The agency’s CAPE claims tool, which went live in April, remains the primary mechanism for processing the remaining refunds, though the senators’ letter signals that Congress intends to maintain oversight pressure if the pace does not improve.
Whether CBP accelerates its timeline — and how the administration responds to the senators’ pointed question about intentional delay — will likely determine whether the issue escalates further into congressional hearings or additional legal action by affected importers.