On February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled in Learning Resources v. Trump that IEEPA does not authorize the president to impose tariffs — a decision that upended how importers think about the duties they’ve been paying since February 2025. For businesses that absorbed elevated costs on shipments from Canada, Mexico, China, and dozens of other trading partners, the ruling isn’t just a legal footnote. It’s the trigger for a refund process that could put real money back into your business.
A Refund Opportunity — With a Tight Timeline
Following the ruling, the Court of International Trade issued a Universal Refund Order directing CBP to process refunds for every importer of record. Days later, the CIT amended that order, staying immediate enforcement while CBP built a system capable of handling the volume. That system, CAPE (Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries), launched its first phase in April 2026 and currently covers roughly 63% of affected entries — specifically those that are unliquidated or were liquidated within the prior 80 days.
That 80-day window matters enormously. Once it closes on a given entry, that entry drops out of Phase 1 eligibility, and recovery becomes more complicated — often requiring a protective protest under 19 U.S.C. § 1514, or, for entries that have already finally liquidated, a longer path through CIT litigation. With over 333,000 importers and an estimated $166 billion in IEEPA duties at stake, the ruling created a genuine opportunity — but one that rewards businesses who act early and penalizes those who wait.
For most small and mid-sized importers, the challenge isn’t whether they’re owed money. It’s knowing which entries qualify, how much time remains on the liquidation clock, and which filing path — a CAPE Declaration, a protective protest, or eventual litigation — applies to each one. None of that is intuitive from inside the ACE portal, and getting it wrong can mean missing a refund altogether.
The Supreme Court’s ruling settled the legal question. It didn’t simplify the process. If your business paid duties on U.S. imports since February 2025, the smartest next step is working with a provider of dedicated IEEPA tariff recovery services before your liquidation windows close and your options narrow. Understanding exactly what you’re owed, and exactly when you need to act, is the difference between recovering what you’re owed and leaving it on the table.
About the Author
