Laura Siegel Rabinowitz is quoted in a Law360 article titled “Over 11 Million Imports Entered For Tariff Refunds, CBP Says.”
Discussing the consolidated administration and processing of entries, or CAPE, which is Customs and Border Protection (CBP)’s tariff refund system developed after the Supreme Court struck down tariffs paid by importers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, Rabinowitz notes: “All companies that we work with, not 100% of entries were accepted… Sometimes it’s a very small percentage. So the job now is to review those and find out why. Was it a clerical error or something that can be fixed and then resubmitted?”
Overall, Rabinowitz commends CBP for CAPE’s implementation: “I think the rollout so far has been terrific and user-friendly… They really deserve kudos for helping the trade community here.”
On the question of whether the government might appeal the court order requiring IEEPA tariff refunds, Rabinowitz believes the government “has moved on” to focus on imposing tariffs under alternative statutes as a revenue-raising mechanism and may not pursue an appeal of the refund order. She points to recent remarks by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who anticipates that tariff revenue projections will remain unchanged in 2026 as replacement measures to the IEEPA regime are implemented. Rabinowitz further notes that continued litigation carries escalating financial risk for the government, observing that the over $160 billion in IEEPA tariff refunds are accruing interest the longer the process takes. “I think they’re also cognizant of that,” she says.
LINKS
Read “Over 11 Million Imports Entered For Tariff Refunds, CBP Says” (subscription).
See also April 6 GT Alert, Updates for Importers on IEEPA Refunds and Section 232 Metals.