According to The Loadstar, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has accepted more than 70% of applications for refunds related to the Trump-era International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariffs — yet small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are falling drastically behind, with only 30% of total IEEPA tariff entries filed by them having been processed.
Refund progress and looming deadlines
A total of $171.1 billion is owed to importers who paid IEEPA tariffs, and as of mid-July 2026, approximately $80 billion, plus accrued interest, has already been disbursed to claimants. However, submission windows are rapidly closing: entries made in February and March 2025 must be claimed by 31 July 2026 — exactly one year from entry date plus 180 days, per the post-Supreme Court refund framework.
For example, a claim tied to an entry dated 1 February 2025 expires on 31 July 2026. Failure to meet this deadline results in permanent forfeiture of the refund right. According to CBP data released yesterday, while 60% of the dollar value of owed tariffs has been accepted, that represents just 30% of the total number of entries subjected to IEEPA duties — revealing a pronounced skew toward high-value claims from large importers.
Judicial scrutiny and policy gaps
U.S. Court of International Trade Judge Richard Eaton underscored systemic inequity in the process, stating:
“It is understood most of the refunds that have been processed so far have gone to large importers, not small.”
He further noted that CBP had failed to propose any method to ensure refunds reach “importers both large and small,” citing the staggering scale of unprocessed obligations — $166 billion.
Judge Eaton called on Rodney Scott, Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, to testify on whether equitable distribution is official government policy. This judicial intervention follows repeated concerns that procedural complexity and tight timelines disproportionately burden SMEs lacking dedicated trade compliance staff or access to sophisticated customs technology.
Brokerage fees and operational responses
Compounding the challenge, customs brokers have emerged aggressively, with reports circulating that major firms are demanding 10–15% of recovered duty amounts as service fees. Pete Mento, director of global trade advisory services at Baker Tilly, confirmed this trend in a LinkedIn post cited by The Loadstar, emphasizing that such brokers perform minimal value-added work: “They are pulling entry data, putting it into a spreadsheet, and uploading it. That’s it.”
Mento stressed these firms do not audit entries, identify errors, file post-summary corrections, preserve protest rights, or prepare for CBP scrutiny — yet charge double-digit percentages. Meanwhile, Katie Fryer, senior customs compliance manager at Travis Perkins, described her company’s strategic shift: “Bringing brokerage in-house gave us visibility. Before we were blind but now we can see the good, bad, and ugly, which allows us to act on it.” Her team now manages all customs activity internally for control, transparency, and rapid mitigation.
Systemic capacity and forward momentum
Despite bottlenecks, the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) system is advancing: an additional $40 billion in approved refunds is currently winding through CAPE processing. Sara Albrecht, chair and CEO of the Liberty Justice Center, hailed the progress:
“This is real progress for importers who paid unlawful IEEPA tariffs — and Liberty Justice Center will keep pushing to make sure every eligible business receives the refund it is owed.”
The broader context includes recent rulings accelerating CBP’s timeline, growing pressure from trade associations representing SMEs, and heightened scrutiny over how Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) data integration affects eligibility verification. With nearly 70% of claims accepted overall — but only 30% of SME filings processed — the disparity underscores urgent operational and equity challenges within U.S. trade remediation infrastructure.
Source: The Loadstar
Compiled from international media by the SCI.AI editorial team.
