In the latest episode of “Talking Trade,” M.E. Dey & Co. CEO Sandi Siegel says the process for refunding tariffs has been “a little messy” but continues apace with more than half of the $166 billion total already returned to importers.
Siegel discusses the latest developments with refunding tariffs that were found to be unlawfully collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act by the Trump administration. After the Court of International Trade last year found the tariffs to be unlawful, the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year ruled the president didn’t have the authority to enact tariffs under IEPA.
Since then, the international court has ordered U.S. Customs and Border Protection to begin refunding the tariffs, and the federal agency in April rolled out the Consolidated Administration & Processing of Entries or CAPE program to facilitate this process.
It’s now being used to process information for imported goods and the tariff “duties” that were paid in order to process refunds, Siegel explains.
“Customs acted pretty quickly, to their credit,” she said, adding the CAPE system has been “fairly straightforward, simpler than you might imagine when the government’s involved.”
Still, elements of this process are complicated by existing regulations governing Customers, according to Siegel.
“It gets a little messy, I’ll just say, from a regulatory side because Customs, under the normal regulation, can only refund slightly more than a year period, depending on the status of the entry,” she said.
While the refund process has proceeded through Phases 1 and 2 with initial tranches of covered imports, Customs has been gearing up to begin Phase 3, opening up the process to more imported goods.
So far, this process has reportedly yielded about $86 billion in refunds to companies, leaving about $80 billion yet to be returned. Siegel notes about 10,000 refunds haven’t been issued as authorities are still waiting on bank information for transfers.
And while many importers are “scrambling” to comply with the refund process, others are choosing not to file for refunds at all, Siegel said.
“There are some concern in their minds of whether or not it’s going to put them under the radar for Customs or have their entries highly scrutinized by Customs, which has been something that Customs has been very transparent about,” she said. “‘We are going to be looking for the accuracy of how you filed the entry before we start giving you money back,’ right?”
This interview was recorded before the Trump administration’s latest round of tariffs.
Talking Trade is hosted by E.M Wasylik Associates Managing Director Ken Wasylik and M.E. Dey & Co. President and Managing Director Sandi Siegel and sponsored by the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, Carroll University and Michael Best Strategies.
