ISTANBUL, Aug 6 — The US federal government has completed and certified nearly US$100 billion (approximately RM424 billion) in tariff refunds following the legal invalidation of emergency import duties, according to a court filing submitted on Tuesday.
The move marks a major step in unwinding about US$166 billion (approximately RM704 billion) in tariffs collected under President Donald Trump's "liberation day" trade policy, which the US Supreme Court struck down in late February after ruling that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act did not authorise the duties.
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official Brandon Lord informed the US Court of International Trade that the agency had sent the certified refunds to the US Treasury Department for disbursement.
The amount represents about 60 per cent of the total duties collected under the emergency act in 2025 before a federal judge ordered the government to return the funds to importers.
CBP established a dedicated processing system, known as CAPE, in late April to manage the large-scale refund exercise.
Data as of July 31 showed importers and customs brokers had submitted 252,496 refund declarations covering more than 25 million import entries.
CBP has accepted nearly US$128.7 billion (approximately RM546 billion) in potential and certified refunds for processing, culminating in the roughly US$100 billion (approximately RM424 billion) currently cleared for payment.
The refund process remains ongoing. More than 330,000 importers paid the invalidated tariffs across more than 53 million individual import entries.
The update was submitted in connection with a lawsuit filed by California-based importer Freestyle World.
The company is seeking class-action status on behalf of smaller businesses that claim they are facing obstacles in obtaining their refunds.
