U.S. Trade Court Orders Tariff-Free Finalization of Millions of Goods Entries

A U.S. trade court ruling requires the government to finalize goods entries without tariffs nullified by the Supreme Court. Affecting millions of shipments, these unliquidated entries' tariffs were imposed by President Trump's IEEPA law. Over $130 billion was collected but refund guidance remains unclear.

A United States trade court judge has mandated the federal government to finalize goods entries into the country without levying tariffs that the Supreme Court invalidated last month, according to recent court documents. This ruling is expected to impact millions of shipments.

As of December 10, there were 19.2 million entries into the U.S. where final tariffs or duties had not been assessed, also known as unliquidated entries. Judge Richard Eaton of the U.S. Court of International Trade specified that all such entries must be finalized without the imposition of the controversial IEEPA tariffs, which former President Donald Trump attempted to enforce.

In a related issue, the U.S. government has accrued more than $130 billion in illegal tariff payments. However, the Supreme Court did not offer clear guidance on how importers will be refunded, leaving considerable uncertainty in the trade community.