Judge Orders Trump Admin to Refund More Than $130M in Tariffs

New York, NY, March 5, 2026-"A federal trade-court judge on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to start refunding the more than $130 billion it collected in the global tariffs invalidated by the Supreme Court last month,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

“Following a hearing involving a filtration company’s fight for a refund, Judge Richard Eaton at the Manhattan-based Court of International Trade issued a written order directing the administration to begin the process of refunding importers. He set a hearing for Friday at which he asked for updates. 

“More than 2,000 lawsuits have been filed by companies-including big names such as Costco Wholesale, FedEx and Pandora Jewelry-seeking to recoup their money.

“The judge’s order requires U.S. Customs and Border Protection to issue refunds by recalculating the initial duties importers paid, excluding the tariffs voided by the high court. Eaton also said the court’s chief judge indicated he will be in charge of settling the refund litigation.

“Larry Friedman, a partner at Barnes, Richardson & Colburn, said this means the government has to issue a refund to everyone who paid the tariffs. ‘This is the order I hoped for, but never expected to see,’ he said. 

“The administration is expected to appeal the order to prevent it from taking effect immediately. The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment. In court on Wednesday, a Justice Department lawyer asked for Eaton to pause his order while the government appeals, but the judge denied that request.

“The judge said the repayment process should be straightforward and grew impatient when a Justice Department lawyer said the government hadn’t yet formalized its position on refunding the tariffs, which President Trump imposed by citing a decades-old law. ‘Your position is clear,’ the judge said. ‘The Supreme Court told you what your position is.’

“The Justice Department lawyer, Claudia Burke, said that any refund process would be time-consuming for the tariff collector, CBP. The government agency would have to manually go through millions of import entries, she added.

“‘We live in the age of computers,’ Eaton said. ‘It must be possible for Customs Service to program its computers so it doesn’t need a manual review.’

“Nunzio De Filippis, a customs broker, said he is being inundated with calls from his clients but that Wednesday’s order doesn’t guarantee refunds. 

“‘The courts still need to figure out the mechanics of how this actually gets unwound,’ he said. ‘My message to the trade community is to chill out. There’s still a whole process to figure out.’

“Companies were lining up at the trade court for refunds even before the Supreme Court issued its decision. 

“The justices didn’t address if or how the money should be repaid. That left it up to the trade court, which heard a key initial challenge to the tariffs, to make those decisions.

“The Trump administration has given mixed signals about how it will approach returning the money. Hours after the Supreme Court issued its ruling, Trump criticized the justices for not including a clear directive on refunds. 

“‘Wouldn’t you think they would have put one sentence in there, saying: ‘Keep the money,’ or ‘Don’t keep the money’, right?” Trump told reporters. ‘I guess it has to get litigated for the next two years.’

“The administration’s lawyers assured lower courts in filings in one case that companies could be ‘made whole through a refund, including interest’ if the tariffs were ultimately ruled unlawful. 

“For many trade lawyers, Eaton’s order came as a surprise. They had been expecting judges who heard the initial cases challenging Trump’s tariffs to also lead the decision-making on refunds. One of the cases that ultimately went up to the Supreme Court was decided by a three-judge panel that Eaton, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, wasn’t on.

“The legal filings piling up at the trade court seeking refunds have largely looked very similar, but lawyers in the case that Eaton heard on Wednesday did something others didn’t: They asked for an emergency order to stop the government from finalizing the amounts importers paid on goods that were subject to the tariffs.

“Kathleen Claussen, a law professor at Georgetown University, said it was remarkable that one case out of thousands has transformed the course of the refund litigation.

“‘The story of these tariffs in the courts from day one has always been small businesses seeking relief and then gaining momentum,’ she said.”