U.S. Customs Launches CAPE for $166 Billion Tariff Refunds

The administration of President Donald Trump is preparing to launch a system next week for refunding $166 billion in tariffs to American importers, following a Supreme Court ruling that deemed them unlawful. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection authority confirmed this development in a court filing.

The new system, called CAPE, will streamline the refund process by consolidating payments, allowing importers to receive one electronic refund with interest, if applicable, instead of dealing with each entry separately. This comes after importers rushed to complete the necessary processes for refunds, totaling $127 billion so far.

The court decision, which found Trump overstepping his authority under a 1977 national emergency law, led to widespread lawsuits in the Court of International Trade. The CAPE system is slated to roll out in phases, initially addressing simpler refund cases, while future phases aim to tackle more complex entries subject to manual processing challenges.