In a significant development for importers, on March 4, 2026, Judge Eaton of the Court of International Trade (CIT) issued a strong and detailed order requiring the refunds for entries of every plaintiff before the CIT who has challenged these IEEPA Tariffs.

The CIT Order

In the order, Judge Eaton clearly stated that the court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1581(i), the CIT has national jurisdiction and the ability to issue a broad order, that he is the judge to whom all IEEPA refunds have been assigned, and that he views the facts and law as clear. It is not clear whether he is also ordering the refunds for everyone else not in court, which will unquestionably be further litigated. 

We note that in response to written questions from the court, U.S. Customs and Border Protection stated that they were continuing to liquidate entries with IEEPA duties if they were deposited at the time of entry, that they were not issuing refunds, and that they had not issued instructions to liquidate without IEEPA duties. They further stated that any refunds will require a review to determine if there was a violation of other customs laws or if other duties, taxes, and fees were still owed. In other words, CBP intends to conduct detailed reviews of all entries before issuing refunds. The responses provided by CBP to the Judge were reviewed by the Judge and likely resulted in his rather strongly worded order. 

We anticipate a prompt filing of an appeal of this order to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC), challenging both the broad nature of the relief and the potential applicability to parties not currently in court. We believe that the CAFC will set an expedited briefing process for this appeal, and we also anticipate that the United States will seek to have this order reviewed by the Supreme Court, but at least with respect to parties in court, this will be a very weak case. 

What Importers Should Do

This order is a significant positive development and strongly suggests that the court is not going to tolerate delays for tariff refunds. Importers in court may receive refunds in a matter of months, if not weeks, rather than years, as desired by the Trump administration.  

We continue to believe that filing litigation at the U.S. Court of International Trade is the surest bet to get refunds of IEEPA duties and to get refunds quickly.

Additionally, if you are not currently enrolled in ACE and/or have not set up your ACH Refund, we highly recommend you set up an ACE Account and set up your ACH Refund application through the ACE Portal.  Once an application for ACH Refund is successfully submitted and approved in the ACE Portal, all future refunds will be issued electronically to the designated U.S. bank account.

This is a quickly moving process, and we will keep you abreast as key changes come to light.  

If you have any questions regarding any other import or export-related matter, please do not hesitate to contact our office at info@diaztradelaw.com. 

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