The U.S. Is Refunding $122 Billion in Trump Tariffs. Here’s Who Gets the Money

Roughly $122 billion in refunds tied to President Donald Trump’s emergency-power tariffs had been completed, certified, and sent by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to the Treasury Department for disbursement as of September 11, 2026. That figure includes both duties and interest. CBP had accepted about $134.7 billion in potential and certified refunds for processing, putting the government well into the massive job of unwinding tariffs the Supreme Court ruled were not authorized by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

There is an important catch for consumers. The federal refund process sends money to the importer of record or another properly designated recipient, not directly to shoppers who may have paid higher prices while the tariffs were in effect. What happens after the importer receives the money depends on the company. Some businesses have said they intend to return money to customers or use the refunds to lower prices. Others have made no such commitment.

The Supreme Court Ruling Was About IEEPA

On February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, commonly called IEEPA, does not authorize the president to impose tariffs. The cases covered tariffs imposed under IEEPA in response to both declared drug-related emergencies and the administration’s trade-deficit emergency.

The decision was narrower than saying presidential tariffs are categorically unconstitutional. The Court held that this particular emergency-powers statute did not provide the authority the administration had used. Congress has separately delegated tariff powers to presidents under other laws, and several of those authorities remain in use.

The Trade Court Had to Build the Refund Process

The Supreme Court decision settled the IEEPA authority question, but it did not spell out a nationwide refund procedure for every importer. That job moved quickly to the U.S. Court of International Trade.

On March 4, Judge Richard K. Eaton ordered Customs and Border Protection to process affected entries without the unlawful IEEPA duties, including reliquidating eligible entries that had already been liquidated but were not yet final. The court temporarily adjusted the implementation schedule so CBP could build an automated system capable of handling millions of entries and billions of dollars in refunds.

CBP created that process through its Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries system, or CAPE. The system allows importers to identify affected entries and gives Customs a way to process the refunds at a scale that would be nearly impossible by hand.

About $122 Billion Has Moved Through the Refund Pipeline

By September 11, CBP reported receiving 286,044 CAPE declarations. More than 201,000 had passed the agency’s file-validation checks, representing roughly 27.2 million accepted import entries.

CBP said about 19.9 million entries had already been liquidated or reliquidated without the IEEPA duties. Approximately $134.7 billion in potential and certified refunds had been accepted for CAPE processing, while roughly $122 billion in refunds, including interest, had been completed, certified, and sent to Treasury for disbursement.

That does not mean every dollar had already reached an importer. CBP also reported more than 20,000 refunds totaling roughly $1.3 billion that could not yet be transmitted because valid electronic payment information was missing.

Bessent Warned Consumers Might Not See the Refund Money

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent addressed the refund question at the Economic Club of Dallas on February 20, the same day the Supreme Court issued its decision. Asked about the possibility of enormous tariff repayments, Bessent said, “I got a feeling the American people won’t see it.”

He also cautioned that the refund process could take weeks, months, or years. The timeline has moved faster than that warning suggested for a large share of the money, but the more important distinction is who receives the government’s payment. CBP sends the refund to the importer of record or another qualifying recipient. There is no parallel federal process that automatically sends tariff refunds to households.

Importers Get the Federal Refund, But That Is Not Always the End of the Story

Companies including Costco (NASDAQ:COST | COST Price Prediction) and FedEx (NYSE:FDX) were among the thousands of businesses that pursued tariff refunds in the Court of International Trade.

The government’s payment generally goes to the importer that originally paid the duty. Whether any of that money ultimately benefits customers is a separate question. FedEx has said that if it receives tariff refunds, it plans to return the corresponding money to shippers and consumers who originally bore those charges. Costco has said it intends to use refunds it receives to provide value to members, including through lower prices.

Other importers may handle the money differently. That makes it inaccurate to assume either that every tariff refund will automatically flow through to shoppers or that none of it ever will. The federal government is refunding importers. What happens after that depends on the business and the circumstances surrounding the original charge.

Consumer Tariff Costs Were Larger Than the Refund Pool

One frequently cited estimate came from Democrats on Congress’s Joint Economic Committee. Using Treasury tariff collections and Congressional Budget Office estimates of how tariff costs are distributed, the committee estimated that consumers absorbed about $231.35 billion in tariff-related costs between February 2025 and January 2026. That worked out to roughly $1,745 per household.

That estimate should not be confused with the amount the government is now refunding. It covers a broader set of tariff-related consumer costs and relies on an economic estimate of how much of the burden was passed through. The roughly $166 billion at the center of the IEEPA refund process refers to duties actually collected under the authorities affected by the Supreme Court ruling.

The two numbers answer different questions. One estimates the economic cost borne by households. The other tracks duties collected by the government that are now being returned through the customs system.

The Government Is Also Paying Interest

The refund bill did not stop growing once the Supreme Court ruled. Eligible customs refunds can accrue interest, giving the government another reason to move quickly.

In early March, Judge Eaton cited an estimate that interest on the unpaid IEEPA duties was accumulating at roughly $650 million per month. The exact monthly amount changes as refunds are processed and balances fall, but the basic point remains: delays can make the final government cost larger than the duties originally collected.

That is also why the latest CBP refund totals cannot be compared dollar for dollar with the original duty collections. The approximately $122 billion reported in September includes interest as well as returned duties.

The Temporary Section 122 Tariff Was 10%, Not 15%

Hours after the Supreme Court decision, the administration turned to Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 for a temporary replacement tariff. The statute permits a temporary import surcharge of up to 15%, but the proclamation President Trump issued imposed a 10% surcharge.

The 10% surcharge took effect February 24, 2026. Section 122 limits that type of action to 150 days unless Congress extends it, and the proclamation set the tariff to expire at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time on July 24, 2026.

That temporary global surcharge is no longer the mechanism collecting tariffs today. The administration has continued using other trade laws that were not invalidated by the Supreme Court’s IEEPA ruling.

Tariffs Did Not Disappear After the Supreme Court Ruling

The February decision removed IEEPA as a tariff authority, but it did not eliminate tariffs imposed under other federal trade laws. Section 232 tariffs on certain imports tied to national-security investigations continue under separate statutory authority.

The administration has also expanded its use of Section 301. In July 2026, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced new Section 301 tariffs connected to forced-labor practices, covering imports from dozens of economies. Depending on the country and product, the measures include 10% or 12.5% tariffs, along with exemptions and special treatment for some trading partners.

So the government can simultaneously refund billions collected under IEEPA while collecting other tariffs under different laws. The Supreme Court ruling changed which statutory authority can be used, not whether tariffs can exist at all.

The Next Refund Phase Starts in October

One of the next important dates is October 6, 2026. CBP plans to open another phase of the CAPE process for certain finally liquidated entries covered by Court of International Trade reliquidation orders.

That matters because thousands of companies filed tariff-related cases, and not every entry can be handled through the same administrative route. CBP has been processing the easier categories first while building procedures for entries with more complicated legal or liquidation histories.

For consumers, the bigger question comes after the customs work is finished. The federal government does not have a system for tracing every dollar of tariff cost through wholesalers, retailers, shipping companies, and ultimately individual buyers. Some businesses have already promised to pass refunds or savings along. For everyone else, whether any of the money works its way back to customers will depend on what the companies receiving it decide to do.

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