Trade Lawsuit Update: CAPE Portal Refunds and Eaton’s Order

The Supreme Court’s February 20, 2026 decision in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump invalidated every tariff the Trump administration had imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and importers who paid those duties can now pursue an IEEPA tariff refund through a dedicated U.S. Customs and Border Protection portal under orders from the Court of International Trade. Roughly $166 billion in collected duties is at stake, refunds on the uncontested portion are flowing, and the fight over who else qualifies is now at the Federal Circuit.¹

What the Supreme Court Ruling Covers

By 6–3, the Court held that IEEPA does not authorize the president to impose tariffs. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion, joined on the statutory reading by Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, Gorsuch, Barrett, and Jackson. The ruling wiped out the drug-trafficking duties on Canada, Mexico, and China, the universal baseline duties, and the reciprocal tariffs that had reached 145% on most Chinese goods.²³

Duties imposed under other statutes are not affected. Section 301 tariffs, Section 232 tariffs on steel, aluminum, and semiconductors, and the replacement Section 122 duties the administration imposed the same day the Court ruled are outside the refund order. Only duties collected under IEEPA are refundable.³

Who Can Get a Refund and for Which Entries

On March 4, 2026, Senior Judge Richard Eaton of the Court of International Trade ordered CBP to liquidate all unliquidated entries without applying IEEPA duties and to reliquidate entries that had not yet become final. The order was not limited to importers who had sued. It directs refunds to every importer who paid the invalidated duties.⁴

Where you sit depends on the status of your entries:

Unliquidated entries, and entries liquidated within the 80 days before the refund process began, fall in Phase 1. The administration has not contested refunds on this roughly $85 billion.⁵
Reconciliation entries, worth an estimated $28.7 billion, fall in Phase 2, which was set to launch June 29, 2026.⁶
Entries that already finally liquidated before the refund process began, meaning the 180-day protest window had closed, fall in Phase 3, which was targeted for late July 2026. These entries represent more than $30 billion and are the entries the government is actively contesting.⁶

How to File Through the CAPE Portal

CBP built a new electronic system called the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries portal inside its existing Automated Commercial Environment platform. CAPE went live on April 20, 2026. The importer of record, or a licensed customs broker acting for the importer, submits claims by uploading entry numbers in a CSV file. CBP has said refunds should move within 60 to 90 days of an accepted submission.⁷

Uptake has been fast. By mid-April more than 56,000 importers had registered.⁸ By late June, CBP had processed CAPE declarations covering nearly 16 million entries and approved roughly $23 billion in refunds for transmission to the Treasury, with an additional $95 billion queued and more than $40 billion in total disbursements expected by the end of June.⁶

What the Government Is Fighting Over

The dispute is not about whether IEEPA tariffs were unlawful. That is settled. The dispute is about which importers can be made whole without having filed their own lawsuit.

The Justice Department argues that only importers who individually sued at the Court of International Trade are entitled to refunds on entries that had already finally liquidated. On that reading, Judge Eaton’s order directing CBP to refund non-litigants too amounts to an impermissible “universal injunction.” On June 3, 2026, DOJ formally appealed the refund orders to the Federal Circuit.⁹ If the government prevails, importers who never filed suit and whose entries finally liquidated before the ruling could be shut out of that $30 billion-plus pool.⁶

More than 2,000 individual tariff lawsuits are already consolidated at the CIT, preserving the claims of importers who did sue.¹⁰

Judge Eaton’s Pressure on CBP

Judge Eaton has pushed hard on pace. He initially ordered CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott to appear in person on June 9, 2026, to explain the agency’s progress. The administration filed what the New York Times described as a “harshly worded emergency appeal” to block the testimony.¹ On June 4, Eaton withdrew the demand for Scott specifically, citing ongoing “settlement negotiations,” and allowed a substitute.¹¹

At the June 9 hearing, CBP’s Executive Assistant Commissioner for Trade, Susan Thomas, testified that roughly $90 billion in refund claims had been processed and approved through CAPE, with about $23 billion disbursed to the Treasury for payment. Eaton called the session a “settlement discussion in open court” and told DOJ attorneys that continued appeals would gain them nothing. “You win nothing,” he said.¹² The judge also indicated he was considering certifying a class of importers so that each one would not have to file a separate suit to recover.¹³

Downstream Lawsuits from Consumers and Buyers

Getting a refund from CBP may not be the end of the story. Consumers and businesses that paid higher retail prices during the tariff period have begun suing importers on unjust enrichment and breach-of-contract theories, arguing that money refunded by the government should flow through to the customers who ultimately bore the cost. Cases have been filed in federal courts in Georgia, Florida, and New York. Many face threshold challenges on standing and ripeness because the government has not yet committed to paying all refunds.¹⁴ Importers positioning for a refund should expect pass-through claims to follow the money.

What Is Still Open

Three things will shape how much any given importer actually recovers. The Federal Circuit has yet to rule on the government’s appeal of Judge Eaton’s universal refund order, which determines whether non-litigants can collect on finally liquidated entries. Phase 2 of CAPE processing was set to open June 29, 2026, and Phase 3 for late July. And Judge Eaton has signaled he may certify a class, which would relieve non-suing importers of filing their own actions to preserve rights.⁶¹³

If you paid IEEPA duties, the practical steps now are to confirm the liquidation status of each entry, register in CAPE through your customs broker or directly as importer of record, and submit CSV filings for Phase 1 entries while watching the Federal Circuit docket for the Phase 3 question. Even importers whose entries finally liquidated have reason to file: a favorable appellate ruling or a certified class could still bring those duties back.

1
New York Times. Trump Tariffs Refunds Court Order
2
U.S. Supreme Court. Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, 607 U.S. ___
3
Sidley Austin LLP. US Supreme Court Issues IEEPA Tariff Decision
4
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP. Court of International Trade Orders Reliquidation of IEEPA Tariff Duties
5
Thompson Hine LLP. Trump Administration Appeals CIT’s IEEPA Tariff Refund Order
6
Holland & Knight LLP. IEEPA Tariff Refund Update – Government Appeals
7
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. IEEPA Duty Refunds
8
Time. Tariff Refund CBP Import Duties
9
Foley & Lardner LLP. What Every Multinational Should Know About the Government’s Appeal of Judge Eaton’s Universal IEEPA Tariff Refunds Order
10
Buchalter. Federal Circuit Clears the Way for IEEPA Tariff Refund Litigation to Resume
11
Inside Trade. Judge Drops Demand for CBP Head’s Testimony
12
New York Law Journal. Judge Urges Trump Administration Lawyers to Stop Appealing Tariff Refund Order
13
Spectrum News. Tariffs IEEPA Case International Court Trade
14
Covington & Burling LLP. Consumer Class Actions Arising From IEEPA Tariff Refund Efforts