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The US Court of International Trade (CIT) has ordered US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to begin issuing refunds to importers who paid International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariffs (CIT Order).
This follows the US Supreme Court ruling last month that President Trump’s IEEPA tariffs were illegal (Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, 2026 WL 477534 (U.S. Feb. 20, 2026)).
Although the prospect of refunds is attracting global headlines, there are near-term uncertainties as to how the refund process will unfold. In this publication, we set out what it could mean for NZ exporters, in collaboration with Tracey Epps.
Two major sources of uncertainty
Appeal:
The US Government may appeal the CIT decision and request a stay of the CIT Order which would pause any progress on refunds. US commentators generally anticipate that this is a likely outcome.
Practical administrative issues:
CBP’s system for processing and liquidating entries – its Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) - lacks the functionality to cope with a task of this scale. CBP has indicated that it hopes to fix this problem within 45 days, making the refund process simpler and more efficient.
CBP obligations under the CIT Order
The CIT Order directs CBP to issue refunds for:
- entries that were entered subject to the IEEPA duties and for which CBP has yet to finalise its assessment (i.e., unliquidated entries) – this means importers will qualify for a refund under the Order if their goods entered the US subject to IEEPA duties but the assessment was never finalised, and
- liquidated entries for which liquidation is not final (which is typically after expiration of the 180-day protest window) – this means if the protest window hasn’t expired, importers will qualify for a refund under the Order.
The CIT Order does not address liquidated entries for which liquidation is final, meaning not all those who paid IEEPA duties will qualify for refunds under the Order.
Who would receive the refunds
The CIT Order makes clear that “all importers of record whose entries were subject to IEEPA duties are entitled to the benefit of the Learning Resources decision” (i.e., not only the plaintiffs in that case).
NZ exporters operate a range of distribution models for US exports, including using a third-party distributor, a sales agent, or wholly owning a distributor themselves. Distributors and agents are the importer of record and will be the ones to receive the refunds. CBP requires entities to be enrolled on its Automated Clearinghouse (ACH) refunds portal to receive refunds.
How to prepare
While there is a great deal of uncertainty, NZ exporters wanting to ensure they are well prepared might consider:
- working with their importer of record to:
- identify which of their entries are subject to the CIT Order, and
- confirm the importer is enrolled in CBP’s ACH refunds portal
- reviewing their contractual arrangements with the importer of record in relation to refunds (and allocation of risk more broadly), and
- monitoring information from CBP and staying up to date. CBP has indicated that the process will involve four steps, although it acknowledged this may be subject to alterations or modifications due to operational, legal, and technical considerations:
- the importer files a declaration in ACE that includes a list of entries on which IEEPA duties were paid
- ACE runs a series of validations on each entry and automatically re-calculates the duty owed without IEEPA tariffs (with applicable interest), which CBP then verifies
- ACE automatically finalises (liquidates or reliquidates) the entries and automatically aggregates the refunds with interest by importer and liquidation date, which CBP certifies, and
- the Department of the Treasury issues IEEPA refunds electronically.
Our thanks to Maisy Bentley for her assistance preparing this update.
