U.S. halts emergency tariff collections after ruling

The agency said it will deactivate the tariff codes tied to the IEEPA-related orders as it turns off collections at ports of entry, but it did not explain why collections continued for several days after the court decision or whether importers who paid the duties will receive refunds.

The halt applies to the tranche of emergency tariffs imposed under IEEPA, the statute the Trump administration used to roll out sweeping import duties that the Supreme Court later rejected. CBP said further instructions will be issued through its Cargo Systems Messaging Service, a channel used to communicate operational changes to brokers, carriers and importers.

The customs action comes as the administration shifts to a different legal pathway to keep tariff pressure in place. The same Reuters report said a new 15% global tariff is set to take effect under separate authority, even as the IEEPA schedule is removed from collection systems.

For importers, the immediate question is what happens to duties paid between the date of the Supreme Court ruling and the Feb. 24 cutoff, and whether earlier payments will be returned. CBP’s notice did not lay out a refund mechanism or eligibility rules, and the agency did not address whether entries already processed under the struck tariffs will be automatically re-liquidated or require protests and litigation.

The Supreme Court decision itself was framed as a major constraint on using emergency powers to levy broad tariffs without congressional authorization. Reuters reported the ruling struck down Trump’s sweeping tariffs pursued under a law intended for national emergencies, a defeat with significant implications for trade policy and the global economy. In the days that followed, market participants tracked two parallel developments: the legal unwind of one tariff regime and the rapid rollout of a replacement tariff under a different statute.

CBP emphasized that the Feb. 24 collection halt is narrowly scoped and does not affect other tariff programs that remain in force. The agency said the change does not apply to tariffs imposed under Section 232, the national security statute used for duties on products such as steel and aluminum, or Section 301, the unfair trade practices statute often used for China-related measures.

The financial scale at stake is large. Reuters said earlier reporting estimated more than $175 billion in revenue collected under the IEEPA tariffs could become subject to refunds, with the duties generating more than $500 million per day at times, based on estimates cited in the report. The size of the potential repayments, and the lack of near-term clarity on how they would be administered, added to uncertainty for companies planning spring and summer shipments, customs brokers preparing entries, and retailers modeling landed costs.

The administration’s broader message has been that trade policy goals are unchanged even if the legal tools are shifting. In comments reported separately, U.S. trade chief Jamieson Greer said the tariff policy “hasn’t changed” despite the Supreme Court ruling, while acknowledging that the administration may need to rely on different authorities to pursue its aims. Trump, for his part, said he would explore alternative routes to impose import taxes after calling the decision “terrible,” including an executive order for a temporary global tariff under the 1974 Trade Act that was later raised to 15%, with a potential 150-day window cited in coverage of the new measure.

The tariff developments have also become a market-moving macro input because they intersect with inflation expectations and growth risks. Coverage of the ruling described a volatile cross-asset backdrop, with safe-haven assets such as gold reacting as investors tried to price what the legal reversal and replacement tariff could mean for costs, supply chains and corporate margins.

For now, the key operational date is Feb. 24. CBP’s notice sets the timestamp for shutting off IEEPA tariff collections at 12:01 a.m. EST, with tariff codes deactivated at the border thereafter, while the status of refunds and the timing of any guidance remain unresolved.