Reliquidation and Relief: Trade Court Orders IEEPA Refunds for Finally Liquidated Entries

The US Court of International Trade (CIT) issued orders on July 15 and July 21, directing US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to reliquidate, without regard to duties imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), certain liquidated entries, paving the way for refunds of IEEPA tariffs collected on the affected entries. While entered as part of one refund action, the orders are expected to provide relief across the approximately 3,700 related refund lawsuits pending before Judge Richard K. Eaton.

The orders are particularly significant because they provide the judicial authorization CBP had maintained was necessary to process refunds for entries whose liquidations had already become final.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Importers with IEEPA refund cases pending at the CIT now have judicial authority to seek refunds for finally liquidated entries.
• Uncertainty remains for nonlitigants, though there may be other avenues of relief depending on the outcome of the government’s appeal and possible certification of a class action.
• Entries subject to open protest are not specifically contemplated in the orders, though Judge Eaton does indicate that CBP is considering further functionality to allow the processing of such entries.
• Importers should evaluate potential refund opportunities and consider filing suit in the CIT if they have not yet done so.

BACKGROUND

In February, the US Supreme Court held that IEEPA does not authorize the US president to impose tariffs, but it did not clarify how refunds should be administered. Learning Res., Inc. v. Trump, 607 U.S. 229 (2026).

On March 4, Judge Eaton—who oversees all IEEPA refund lawsuits—issued a sweeping order directing CBP to begin paying refunds immediately. After the government indicated that it was logistically impractical to immediately issue refunds and represented that it would establish a voluntary refund mechanism, Judge Eaton suspended the immediate compliance portion of his earlier order.

The government then rolled out the voluntary Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) system, designed specifically for IEEPA refunds. CAPE became operational on April 20, initially covering most unliquidated entries and certain recently liquidated entries. CBP began issuing refunds through the system in May and, as of July 15, had reported processing approximately $86.3 billion in refunds.

While the CAPE program enabled refunds for many importers, a few important categories of entries remained excluded. Until the July 21 order, finally liquidated entries remained outside the scope of CAPE, as CBP took the position that it was only able to process certain unliquidated entries and entries that have liquidated within 80 days. The government appealed Judge Eaton’s refund orders, asserting that the CIT lacked authority to order CBP to issue refunds of finally liquidated entries to importers who had not filed lawsuits.

The appeal argued that the CIT’s order for CBP to issue refunds on a universal basis exceeded the court’s jurisdiction and the US Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. CASA, Inc., which otherwise banned universal injunctions. While Judge Eaton’s order resolved the issue for certain importers, the government’s appeal remains pending. The Federal Circuit’s decision will determine the scope of the CIT’s authority to issue universal relief and will have important implications for importers who have not yet filed suit.

LIQUIDATION

Liquidation is the process by which CBP makes its final computation and assessment of duties on an entry. Most liquidation of formal entries occurs within approximately 314 days of entry unless liquidation is extended or suspended. Informal entries liquidate on a more compressed timeline, with liquidation occurring upon payment of the estimated duties.

Once liquidation occurs, CBP has 90 days to unilaterally reliquidate an entry, while importers have an overlapping 180 days to file a protest. If no protest is filed within that period, liquidation becomes final.

By directing reliquidation of entries that have been liquidated for more than 80 days, CIT’s orders will capture both finally liquidated entries and entries that may become final while being processed by CAPE, thereby extending the refund process to entries that previously fell outside CBP’s CAPE program.

PROCESS

For importers who have filed refund litigation in the CIT, the July 15 order directs them to submit certain information to CBP, including their importer of record identification numbers. CBP will provide instructions to plaintiffs’ counsel describing how to submit the required importer identification information. After following the provided instructions, the importer may submit a CAPE declaration. Reliquidation will occur only once CBP has accepted the CAPE declarations.

The July 15 order also contemplates that plaintiffs may submit multiple CAPE declarations, for example, if additional entries become finally liquidated after an initial declaration has been filed. Judge Eaton also acknowledged that many plaintiffs have already received refunds through the CAPE system, anticipating that they will move to voluntarily dismiss their cases if they have received the sought relief.

Neither the July 15 order nor the July 21 order addresses issues concerning duty-free de minimis treatment, which is pending in another case before the CIT. Axle of Dearborn, Inc. v. Department of Commerce et al., No. 25-00091.

LOOKING AHEAD

While neither order automatically triggers refunds, they remove a significant procedural obstacle that had prevented CBP from processing finally liquidated entries. Importers with pending IEEPA refund litigation should review whether they have finally liquidated entries that were previously ineligible for processing through CAPE.

Those importers should also monitor forthcoming instructions from the CIT and CBP regarding submission of importer identification information and evaluate whether additional CAPE declarations are necessary as additional entries become finally liquidated. While the orders significantly expand the scope of entries eligible for reliquidation, the timing of individual refunds will continue to depend on CBP’s implementation of the CAPE process.

The orders do not address entries that are subject to an open protest (and so are not yet finally liquidated). Judge Eaton’s July 15 order reflects that CBP discussed developing further functionality in CAPE to process refunds for entries subject to an open protest, though the July 21 order does not provide further clarity. Importers may thus choose from two paths.

If an importer has a pending lawsuit, it could withdraw its protest(s) and allow the entries to finally liquidate, after which it could submit a CAPE declaration for those entries. Importers with or without pending complaints may also wait for this expanded functionality, keeping the entries open in the meantime.

It is unclear whether importers will need to file a lawsuit to recover for finally liquidated entries. In Judge Eaton’s July 15 order, he noted the possibility of a Rule 23 class action certification proceeding at the CIT, which could provide another path for importers who have not yet filed complaints. At this time, no certification ruling has been issued and the scope of any potential class remains unclear.