Two months after the Supreme Court struck down Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs, the government is finally letting importers ask for their money back. Monday was day one of the refund portal.
Here's the catch. The White House is already hinting that not everyone owed money will get the full amount.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection launched a new system called CAPE - short for Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries. It's designed to batch refunds together rather than handle them entry by entry.
Only the companies that actually paid the tariffs - or the brokers working on their behalf - can file. And even then, only certain tariff payments are eligible in this first phase. The agency hasn't said when the full system opens.
Refunds will take 60 to 90 days after approval. That's the easy part.
Kevin Hassett, the White House's top economic adviser, told Fox News recently that "alternative authorities" could "reduce that number quite a bit." In plain English: the administration might find a legal path to give back less than $166 billion.
For importers counting on the cash, that's a big asterisk. Some built their margins around the assumption that the tariff money was coming back. A haircut from Washington changes the math.
The SCOTUS ruling itself was based on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the 1970s law Trump used to justify the tariffs in the first place. The court said he overreached. What the court didn't do was block the White House from trying a different legal avenue to keep some of the money.
For investors watching retail and industrial importers, the refund timeline is now a cash flow story. The companies with the biggest tariff bills - big-box retailers, auto parts suppliers, apparel brands - have the most to gain if refunds come through clean. They have the most to lose if the administration carves the number down.
The portal is open. The check isn't in the mail yet.
Source: CNN