US customs agency says it cannot comply with tariff refund order

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Financial Times, via Reuters

US customs agency says it cannot comply with tariff refund order

By Reuters
March 6, 2026 10:37 AM EST Updated 23 mins ago

WILMINGTON, Del., March 6 (Reuters) - The ​U.S. Customs and ‌Border Protection agency is ​unable to ​comply with a court ⁠order ​directing it to ​refund tariffs that the Supreme Court has ​ruled ​illegal, the agency said in a ‌court ⁠filing with the U.S. Court for ​International ​Trade ⁠on Friday.

Reporting by ​Tom Hals ​in ⁠Wilmington, Delaware; writing by ⁠Ryan ​Patrick Jones ​in Toronto; editing ​by Susan Heavey

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/us-customs-agency-says-it-cannot-comply-with-tariff-refund-order-2026-03-06/

---

That's the whole story at Reuters right now.

The FT is subscription-only. I think this is the link:

https://www.ft.com/content/0315349e-763e-4faa-a5b1-c02ce7801cbd

My suggestion: put a lien on the 747 that Qatar so generously gave to the United States. Auction it off to the highest bidder and use the proceeds to start paying off what's owed.

Hat tip, Kevin M. Kruse

Pretty sure when they started imposing this idiocy they assured a bunch of judges that they would be able to refund the money with no problem if it ever came to that.

— Kevin M. Kruse (@kevinmkruse.bsky.social) 2026-03-06T15:53:07.808Z

*******
Kevin M. Kruse
‪@kevinmkruse.bsky.social‬

Pretty sure when they started imposing this idiocy they assured a bunch of judges that they would be able to refund the money with no problem if it ever came to that.

‪FinTwitter‬
‪@fintwitter.bsky.social‬
� 40m
U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION UNABLE TO COMPLY WITH COURT ORDER DIRECTING TARIFF REFUNDS -COURT FILING
10:53 AM � Mar 6, 2026
*******

U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION UNABLE TO COMPLY WITH COURT ORDER DIRECTING TARIFF REFUNDS -COURT FILING

— FinTwitter (@fintwitter.bsky.social) 2026-03-06T15:25:20.194081+00:00

*******
FinTwitter
‪@fintwitter.bsky.social‬

U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION UNABLE TO COMPLY WITH COURT ORDER DIRECTING TARIFF REFUNDS -COURT FILING
10:25 AM � Mar 6, 2026
*******

Apparently, the original source is the Financial Times:

www.reuters.com/business/us-...

— Jeffrey Brown (@texasgeologist.bsky.social) 2026-03-06T15:43:50.979Z

*******
Jeffrey Brown
‪@texasgeologist.bsky.social‬

Apparently, the original source is the Financial Times:

https://www.reuters.com/business/us-companies-are-being-denied-refunds-trumps-illegal-tariffs-ft-reports-2026-03-06/

US companies denied refunds on Trump's illegal tariffs, FT reports
The U.S. government has declined to refund tariffs the Supreme Court ​ruled illegal last month, the Financial Times ‌reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
www.reuters.com
10:43 AM � Mar 6, 2026
*******

[cutroot]

1. Has the money mysteriously moved somewhere?

[dweller]

6. To the back

Pocket of the fat pisswigged grifter in chief



✌🏻

[Baitball Blogger]

14. Trump is good at laundering money, so, probably yes.

[quakerboy]

22. good at grifting money

Good at losing money. Not sure he can be called good at laundering it.

[2naSalit]

19. It never saw...

the Treasury account, it's all been distributed into -45's accounts and he has no intent in paying any of it to anyone.

[Ocelot II]

2. Why the hell not?

But wouldn't the refunds come directly from the Treasury Department, since that's where the tariffs are paid in the first place?

[sinkingfeeling]

3. This will be good. Get stocked up on popcorn.

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Anything but obey the courts

Expect foot dragging and stonewalling on everything

[moonshinegnomie]

5. a simple solution. make the orange pedo pay the refunds personally

[Klarkashton]

7. Like everything else tariffs were imposed with reckless haste

No thought given to anything but a rush to comply with a stupid trump proclamation.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

8. Here's the earlier Reuters article.

US companies denied refunds on Trump’s illegal tariffs, FT reports

By Reuters
March 6, 2026 5:14 AM EST Updated 3 hours ago

March 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. government has declined to refund tariffs the Supreme Court ​ruled illegal last month, the Financial Times ‌reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. ... The customs officials are denying companies' requests to recover duties ​imposed under emergency powers invoked by U.S. ​President Donald Trump, leaving businesses uncertain and ⁠driving more disputes into court, the FT said.

The ​U.S. government collected more than $130 billion in illegal ​tariff payments, which were central to Trump's trade policy. The Supreme Court did not provide guidance for issuing refunds, ​creating confusion over how importers would be reimbursed.

On ​Wednesday, a U.S. trade court judge ordered the government to begin ‌paying ⁠potentially billions of dollars in refunds to importers who paid tariffs. ... Many companies have rushed to submit Post Summary Corrections to remove International Emergency Economic ​Powers Act ​tariff codes ⁠from shipment entries and seek refunds, but U.S. Customs and Border Protection has ​been rejecting those submissions and suspending ​protests ⁠filed over repayments of IEEPA tariffs that had already been liquidated, the FT said.

Reuters could not immediately ⁠verify ​the report. The White House ​and CBP did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for ​comment.

Reporting by Devika Nair in Bengaluru Editing by Tomasz Janowski

[bluestarone]

9. Sign of things to come!

They will say fuck the courts, fuck congress. There thoughts will be "What are you gonna do about it?" That's where we are at.

[ananda]

10. Unable... or unwilling.

Well, to be fair, an illegal war is very costly.

But then, so is moving money into Trump's
shitlined pockets.

[displacedvermoter]

11. I thought Treasury Secretary Bessent

could just write a check. That is what he said he would do when asked about paying Trump for his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS? No problem, right?

[EarthFirst]

12. Where's the money Lebowski? nt

[Fiendish Thingy]

13. Take the refunds out of the ICE budget. Nt

[mahatmakanejeeves]

15. Financial Times: US companies denied refunds on Trump's illegal tariffs

Financial Times
‪@financialtimes.com‬

US companies denied refunds on Trump’s illegal tariffs
ft.trib.al/niHJonr

Translate

US companies denied refunds on Trump’s illegal tariffs
Customs officials are rejecting attempts to reclaim duties that were struck down by the Supreme Court
ft.trib.al
11:19 AM · Mar 6, 2026

US companies denied refunds on Trump’s illegal tariffs ft.trib.al/niHJonr

— Financial Times (@financialtimes.com) 2026-03-06T16:19:39.586920Z

[mahatmakanejeeves]

16. US Judge to Meet Parties on Trump-Tariff Refunds in Closed-Door 'Settlement Conference'

John Navas ⛵🌉
‪@jnavas.com‬

US Judge to Meet Parties on Trump-Tariff Refunds in Closed-Door 'Settlement Conference' @reuters.com 🍿
• Government says millions of records may need manual review 🙄
• Around 2,000 refund lawsuits filed by US importers 😮
• Conference scheduled for 10:30 a.m. ET
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-judge-meet-parties-trump-tariff-refunds-closed-door-settlement-conference-2026-03-06/

Exclusive: US judge to meet parties on Trump-tariff refunds in closed-door 'settlement conference'
A U.S. judge will meet behind closed doors with government lawyers on Friday seeking to hammer out a process to refund up to $175 billion in illegally ​collected tariffs, a meeting a court official de...
www.reuters.com
10:54 AM · Mar 6, 2026

US Judge to Meet Parties on Trump-Tariff Refunds in Closed-Door 'Settlement Conference' @reuters.com 🍿
• Government says millions of records may need manual review 🙄
• Around 2,000 refund lawsuits filed by US importers 😮
• Conference scheduled for 10:30 a.m. ET
www.reuters.com/world/us-jud...

— John Navas ⛵🌉 (@jnavas.com) 2026-03-06T15:54:21.719Z

Exclusive: US judge to meet parties on Trump-tariff refunds in closed-door 'settlement conference'

By Tom Hals
March 6, 2026 12:19 AM EST Updated 49 mins ago

Summary
* Government says unable to comply with court order
* Around 2,000 refund lawsuits filed by US importers on illegal tariffs

March 6 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge will meet behind closed doors with government lawyers on Friday seeking to hammer out a process to refund up to $166 billion in illegally ​collected tariffs, a meeting a court official described as a "settlement conference."

Judge Richard Eaton of the U.S. Court of International Trade will meet with lawyers representing ‌the customs agency responsible for reimbursing more than 300,000 importers that paid the tariffs, which were struck down last month as unconstitutional.

Just as the meeting was scheduled to start, a top customs official informed the court that his agency was unable to comply with the judge's directive earlier this week to use its existing system to generate automatic tariff refunds. Businesses have raised concerns about what they expect to be a months- or ​years-long process to get refunds.

U.S. courts are presumed to be open to the public, although judges will sometimes hold private meetings with parties to discuss scheduling or ​how to handle sensitive information.

{snip}

Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Dan Burns, William Mallard and David Gaffen

[mathematic]

17. The Court refused an injunction on these illegal tariffs because the admin argued they could simply refund.

It's plainly obvious that they should have stopped the implementation of these tariffs until they were found to be legal.

It's plainly obvious that they must stop the replacement tariffs immediately until they are found to be legal. (They aren't.)

[Bayard]

18. The companies aren't getting their refunds,

And we aren't getting our tariff dividends. My goodness--where has all that money gone?


The Supremes will have to order him to return the money. They should have done it while they decided they were illegal. Companies will wait years for that money, or until Dems are back in power. We will have to clean up another trump mess that we will probably get blamed for.

[quakerboy]

23. the money to pay for all the doge crap

Has to come from somewhere. Then ice had to be expanded to control future elections. Plus now theres a war to fund

[Mysterian]

20. You complied with collecting the illegal tariffs, motherfuckers

Now comply with giving the money back.

[Old Crank]

21. Jail them

until they find the records of collection.
They should have records of what they charged people.

[quakerboy]

24. why?

What legal basis do they have to decline to obey a court order?

I read the whole thread, and didnt see one assertion addressing why.

[ck4829]

25. Where's the money?

[gab13by13]

26. In a bank in Qatar

[SomewhereInTheMiddle]

27. "I don't care what some court says ..."

" I'm the one with the rubber stamp you need to get a refund, and I say no! There's nothing anyone can do about it. So there!["

I am imagining some petty bureaucrat who only has one iota of power - to say no - and is anxious to use it come hell or high water.

It is almost certainly worse than that. This refusal almost certainly comes from much higher in the Regime. Someone trying to protect the Old Man and/or themselves.

But it is the petty bureaucrats that are likely to end up under the bus when the courts come back as hard as they can.