The US Supreme Court has ruled that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not provide a sufficient legal basis for the US President to impose tariffs unilaterally. As a result, the additional IEEPA tariffs imposed in recent months on this basis are being lifted, and tariffs already paid may be refunded. At the same time, however, new tariffs have been introduced under Section 122 of the Trade Act.
Lifting of IEEPA duties and remaining measures
Executive Order 14389 abolished IEEPA duties on imports from several countries, including Canada, Mexico, China, Brazil and India. These additional duties no longer apply to goods declared for free circulation on or after 24 February 2026.
Despite this repeal, certain trade measures remain in place:
- Suspension of the de minimis rule
- Temporary duties under Section 122
- Existing measures under Section 232 and Section 301
Impact on international trade agreements
Existing bilateral agreements, such as those with the EU, are also affected: tariffs based on the IEEPA are no longer applied. Instead, an additional tariff rate of 10 per cent currently applies under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. Tariffs under Section 232, however, remain unchanged; these apply, for example, to steel, aluminium and motor vehicles.
Refund of IEEPA duties already paid
To implement the refunds in practice, the United States Court of International Trade (CIT) has ordered the customs authority CBP to:
- Process imports that have not yet been cleared without applying IEEPA duties
- Recalculate cases that have not yet been finalised (re-assessment)
- Imports that have already been finalised must be reprocessed retroactively without IEEPA duties
There is no final decision by the Supreme Court on the refund itself; implementation is therefore taking place via court orders from the CIT.
New CAPE Refund System
The CBP is introducing the CAPE (Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries) system to process refunds, which will be rolled out in phases from 20 April 2026. In this initial phase, the following will be processed:
- uncleared imports, as well as
- selected imports that have already been cleared (up to 80 days retroactively).
The refund process comprises four steps:
- Submission of a claim via a Claim Portal in the ACE system
- Automatic removal of IEEPA duties and recalculation
- Verification and (re)assessment of duties
- Electronic payment of the refund
Important: there is no automatic refund. Importers (or exporters who have delivered to the US under Incoterm® DDP) or their authorised customs agents must actively submit a claim. Requirements include an ACE account and bank details on file for electronic payment.
Other refund methods
In addition to CAPE, there are further refund options:
- Post Summary Correction (PSC) for imports not yet cleared (up to 15 days prior to clearance)
- Appeal procedure for imports already cleared (within 180 days of clearance)
Source: GTAI (in German)
