US collects $166B in tariffs under IEEPA

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) unit reported that approximately $166 billion in customs duties were collected under tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump based on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

In a statement on Friday submitted by CBP to the US International Trade Court, the reasons why the court's decision to refund the taxes could not be technically implemented immediately were explained.

The statement indicated that the amount of duties collected and expected to be paid under IEEPA was approximately $166 billion as of March 4, that more than 330,000 importers had carried out more than 53 million transactions, and that approximately 20.1 million transactions were still pending settlement.

The statement emphasized that it was not possible for CBP to immediately halt new customs transactions made without paying IEEPA taxes.

The statement indicated that CBP does not have the ability to separate IEEPA tariffs from others in transactions scheduled for termination, and that the unit is facing an unprecedented refund burden, with current procedures and technology proving inadequate for a task of this scale.

The statement indicated that CBP plans to add a new function to its system to facilitate the process and that work is underway to make it operational within 45 days.

On February 20, the US Supreme Court ruled that the IEEPA, on which the tariffs imposed by President Trump were based, did not grant the President the authority to impose tariffs.

In a petition filed with the Federal Appeals Court on February 27, the US Department of Justice stated that the customs duty refund process is extremely complex and that similar processes have taken years in the past, requesting an additional 90 days to evaluate options.

On March 2, the US Court of Appeals rejected the Trump administration's request to suspend or delay the refund of customs duties that had been ruled unlawful.