US Customs processing $20.6B in importer tariff refunds: report

[100 US dollar note on a USA flag with word TARIFFS]
Tomas Ragina/iStock via Getty Images

Approximately $20.6B is on its way to importers who successfully filed claims using the new web portal developed by US Customs and Border Protection, the agency said Tuesday in a court filing reviewed by Bloomberg.

However, the government’s latest declaration to the US Court of International Trade also included an admission of a significant error in its last report to the federal judge overseeing the tariff refund process, showing the value of the refunds being processed in the early weeks of the program was far lower than previously thought.

According to the _Bloomberg_ report, all the claims were submitted through a new web platform called the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries system, which was launched on April 20, 2026. The system was built inside the wider customs filing platform used for import entries.

According to the filing, the $20.6B has already reached the stage where it is being transferred to the US Treasury, which then sends payments to importers through direct bank transfers. Some delays have happened in cases where importers did not provide proper bank details for ACH transfers, the report added.

Two weeks ago, a US trade official said that more than $35.5B in refund claims were being processed. Yet that number “was overstated by approximately $10B,” according to Brandon Lord, executive director of trade programs for CBP’s Office of Trade. The actual amount was closer to $25B, the report said.“This was not a reflection of any error in CAPE processing or refunds, but rather was the result of an inadvertent error in the data query used to calculate the figure,” said Lord, referring the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries, which it developed following the Supreme Court’s decision that overturned a large swath of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

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