US CBP processes $35.46 billion Trump tariff refunds amid surging claims

New York City (ANTARA) - The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has processed refunds of tariffs and related interest amounting to $35.46 billion (1 US dollar = Rp17,415) as of Monday (11 May). The statement comes from court filings submitted to the US Court of International Trade, released on Tuesday (12 May). As of that Monday, CBP had received 126,237 refund applications for tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump last year under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), and had validated 86,874 of them, the court filing revealed. In February, the US Supreme Court ruled that the sweeping tariffs imposed by Trump based on the IEEPA were unconstitutional, and that the president lacked authority to impose import tariffs on goods from nearly all US trading partners. Estimates suggest that CBP revenues from Trump-imposed tariffs under the IEEPA that must be refunded total $166 billion. Shortly after the Supreme Court decision, Trump imposed a temporary global 10 per cent tariff under the Trade Act of 1974, which was later overturned by the Court of International Trade on 7 May. The trade court ruled that Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 only permits the imposition of tariffs in cases of a “large and serious balance-of-payments deficit.” With the ongoing tariff refund process, several consumers have filed class-action lawsuits demanding refunds for costs passed on to them, local media reported.