The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP, for its acronym in English) has acknowledged before the International Trade Tribunal that it does not have the capacity to comply with the order to reimburse the tariffs collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), declared illegal by the Supreme Court. The accumulated amount of these tariffs amounts to approximately 166 billion dollars (143 billion euros).
In a statement filed before the International Trade Tribunal, Brandon Lord, executive director of the customs agency, stated that the CBP "cannot comply" with the order which, since last Wednesday, requires it to refund with interest to importers who paid the tariffs under the IEEPA.
Lord explained that, until March 4, 2026, more than 330,000 importers had made a total of over 53 million entries in which they deposited or paid tariffs imposed under the IEEPA, and that the total amount of the duties and deposits collected amounts to "approximately 166 billion dollars."
"In light of the amended order from the Court of March 5, 2026, the CBP is now facing an unprecedented volume of refunds," noted Lord, who emphasized that the agency's current administrative procedures and technology "are not suitable for a task of this magnitude." The executive director also warned that addressing the process manually would prevent staff from fully carrying out their ordinary mission.
Lord maintained that "it is not feasible" to allocate all personnel to full-time refund processing and specified that if the agency's import and entry specialists dedicated themselves exclusively to this task, "their responsibilities would be severely affected and the agency would not be able to continue adequately fulfilling its mission."