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CIT Expands Paused IEEPA Tariff Refund Order to Include Finally Liquidated Entries
March 30, 2026 by Jacob Kopnick|Top News
Excerpted from TradelawDaily.com
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Court of International Trade Judge Richard Eaton on March 27 broadened his prior order requiring CBP to begin paying refunds of tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to include finally liquidated entries. The judge’s initial order only covered non-finally liquidated entries but now states that “[a]ny liquidated entries for which liquidation is final shall be reliquidated without regard to the IEEPA duties.”
However, the judge continued his suspension of the order “to the extent that it requires immediate compliance.”
Eaton amended the order after importers led by AGS Company Automotive Solutions, a key player in the fight for refunds, asked the court to lift the stay in its case to address potential issues stemming from Eaton’s most recent order regarding IEEPA tariff refunds.
Concurrent with his decision to amend his refund order, Eaton then denied AGS’ motion to lift the stay of its case (AGS Company Automotive Solutions v. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, CIT # 25-00255).
In a previous decision in AGS’ case, Judges Gary Katzmann, Timothy Reif and Jane Restani denied the importer’s motion to suspend liquidation of its entries saddled with IEEPA tariffs, since the trade court could order reliquidation of finally liquidated entries in the company’s Section 1581(i) case (see 2512150029).
In their decision, which was issued prior to the Supreme Court finding the IEEPA tariffs to be unlawful, the three judges noted that filing a protest would be futile, since CBP has no role in adjudicating the underlying legality of the IEEPA tariffs. However, in a March 20 order, Eaton said no resolution was reached with the government on how to provide relief for finally liquidated entries.
The judge then said “importers should be aware of the remedies available under 19 U.S.C. § 1514 (Protest against decisions of Customs Service).”
In the wake of this language being published, AGS filed an emergency motion to lift the stay of its case “to be heard on this issue and obtain confirmation” they aren’t required to protest entries CBP liquidates to get IEEPA refunds and, “indeed, that doing so would be futile.”
AGS argued that good cause exists to lift the stay, since the court “has issued seemingly incompatible orders with respect to whether protests are necessary — or even available — to recover duties paid under the unlawful IEEPA tariff regime.” Eaton’s order suggesting importers can protest liquidations of entries with IEEPA duties is “in tension” with the three-judge panel’s order denying AGS’ motion for a preliminary injunction, the brief said.
Importers have relied on the AGS decision, and, in fact, many protest windows have closed. “Without an opportunity to clarify the Atmus Court’s order, Consolidated Plaintiffs risk seeing slip away the paramount legal rights they thought were preserved, to wit, the lack of need to file protests because doing so would be futile, and because of CBP’s promise to issue refunds on liquidated entries,” the brief said.
AGS argued that “[p]otential chaos, steep cost, and inefficiency lie ahead.” If importers start filing protests in response to the court’s order, it’s “more than likely (because they are futile) that CBP will deny those protests,” leading to thousands of new cases at CIT but under Section 1581(a). The court should seek to avoid this outcome, since it’s futile and also “contrary to the very judicial economy and expeditious resolution of refunds this Court has espoused in Atmus,” the brief said.
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