U.S. Customs and Border Protection told a federal judge Friday it cannot immediately comply with an order to stop the liquidation of tariff entries and begin refunding duties collected under President Donald Trump's International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs, saying it needs 45 days to build a system for what it described as an unprecedented volume of claims.
In a filing to Senior Judge Richard Eaton of the U.S. Court of International Trade, the agency said, "CBP is not able to comply with the Court of International Trade's order of March 4, 2026," but said it is working to create new functionality in its Automated Commercial Environment, or ACE, to streamline refunds.
Brandon Lord, executive director of CBP's Trade Programs Directorate, said the agency counted more than 330,000 importers who made 53 million entries subject to IEEPA tariffs, resulting in an estimated $166 billion in revenue.
He said about 20.1 million entries remained unliquidated as of March 4, and that more than 700,000 entries were set to liquidate early Friday, including about 339,000 with IEEPA duties.
The filing underscores the operational stakes of the Supreme Court's Feb. 20 ruling that IEEPA does not authorize the president to impose tariffs. This decision opened the door to sweeping refund demands from importers.
The high court said the statute did not give Trump the broad tariff power his administration claimed, and Eaton this week ruled companies are entitled to refunds with interest.
Under customs law, importers typically have about 314 days after goods enter the country to finalize tariff payments through liquidation. Once duties are liquidated, recovering money becomes more difficult, often requiring a formal protest and, in some cases, another trip to the New York-based trade court.
Lord said CBP has never been ordered to process refunds on anything close to this scale.
The agency said it hopes to avoid issuing tens of millions of separate payments by consolidating refunds and interest on an importer basis.
Eaton was also trying to steer the parties toward a workable refund process that could apply broadly beyond the first companies that sued.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.