And as they wade through the refund process, some processors are being sued by consumers, who claim last year’s tariff costs were passed on to them in the form of higher prices. Consumers want to make sure those tariff refunds are shared with them and don’t become windfalls for the companies. Maybe that’s at least part of the reason why Walmart executives, in a May 21 financial call, said they will put their refunds toward lowering store prices.

There are (at the moment) two sets of tariffs to discuss. Last year’s Liberation Day tariffs were based on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a 1977 Congressional act that gave the president a number of economic powers after the U.S. had just been through a recession.

Trump’s use of IEEPA looked questionable from the start but those tariffs were in effect until the U.S. Supreme Court shot them down this Feb. 20.

That same day, Trump responded with Section 122 tariffs, imposing a 10% duty on imports from every country except those covered by the 2020 United States-Mexico-Canada (free trade) Agreement. Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 authorizes the president to impose quotas or temporary import surcharges of up to 15% for up to 150 days to address fundamental international payments problems, such as large trade deficits or balance-of-payments issues.

Click here to read the toll the tariffs took on parts and equipment sourcing.

That statute had never been used before. These new duties had an even shorter life than the IEEPA ones: In less than three months, the (U.S.) Court of International Trade struck down those tariffs, although they were upheld on appeal June 11. Rergardless, they are set to expire July 24.

A series of courts, all the way up to the Supreme Court, ruled that the Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the power to impose tariffs. Nevertheless, some $166 billion was collected under the IEEPA tariffs, which now needs to be refunded — with interest.

On April 20, U.S. Customs & Border Protection set up the “Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries” (CAPE) program, a web portal for companies to apply for refunds of IEEPA duties. The New York Times in a June story said the U.S. owes money to about 330,000 importers, particularly businesses, representing tariffs paid on about 53 million entries.

Only Importers of Record and authorized Customs Brokers will be able to file refund requests. The goal was to make the refund process easy enough for processors to handle their own paperwork, rather than to add to their expense by getting lawyers or other professionals involved — but so far, there have been mixed reports.

Our sister brand Plant Services has a May 14 podcast “How manufacturers can navigate the new CBP tariff refund portal,” with Ben Johnston of Kapitus. Listen to it here.

One law firm reported early rejection rates were running near 40%, suggesting that most smaller importers were struggling with the process. Large food & beverage processors with in-house customs counsel seem to be navigating the filings correctly.

And there are deadlines: A refund application must be filed within 300 days from the entry date or 15 days before “liquidation,” whichever comes first. Customs and Border Protection typically liquidates entries — makes an official and final determination of all the duties, taxes and fees owed on an imported shipment — within 314 days of import.

If your entry already has been liquidated, you have 180 days from the liquidation date to file a protest. For the earliest IEEPA entries (Feb. 4, 2025), liquidation began in December 2025, meaning some 180-day windows may be closing soon.

Liberty Justice Center steps in

Liberty Justice Center (libertyjusticecenter.org), a nonprofit, nonpartisan, public-interest litigation firm, joined the fight at the outset. On April 14, 2025, the center filed the first suit with the Court of International Trade challenging the Trump Administration’s IEEPA tariffs — “because they were devastating small businesses across the country,” says Sara Albrecht, chairman and CEO. In that case, Liberty represented a wine importer and four other small businesses.

The Court of International Trade ruled in the plaintiffs’ favor; that decision was upheld on appeal; and this February the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed those lower-court rulings, setting the tariff refund process in motion.

“Liberty Justice Center led the litigation that resulted in the Supreme Court’s decision striking down the IEEPA tariffs,” says Albrecht. “Our case was the first filed in the Court of International Trade and ultimately became the vehicle that secured the final victory.”

Now, “our goal is to help businesses understand the refund process and stay informed,” she continues. “That’s why we created the TERRA website — to serve as a central resource for importers seeking updates, answers and practical guidance as the government works through the unprecedented task of returning these funds.”

Project TERRA – an acronym for Tariff Equity and Refund Resource for America – is a resource hub to help small businesses recover tariffs. Any company seeking help with the refund process ought to visit it — see libertyjusticecenter.org/tariffs/terra.

One food company’s fight

Burlap & Barrel (www.burlapandbarrel.com) is a small, New York-based importer of spices that had a turn on Shark Tank. While it wasn’t involved in the IEEPA tariff court cases, it was the first to appeal the Section 122 tariffs — with the help of Liberty Justice Center — to the Court of International Trade.

Burlap & Barrel is a public benefit corporation, its products are single-origin, and it sources directly from farmers in Guatemala, Iceland, Spain, Turkey, Vietnam and other places, allowing the farmers to keep more of the profits.

“We don't have lawyers on retainer, big trade teams or redundant supply chains to fall back on,” Ori Zohar, co-founder and co-CEO, told us. “The tariffs put small businesses like ours in a genuinely difficult position. There is no domestic equivalent for these supply chains.”

Zohar pointed out a common counter-productive result of the tariffs. “Tariffs are paid by American companies and ultimately raise the costs or limit the availability of goods for everyday Americans. The financial burden is real, and since the majority of Burlap & Barrel's expenses are within America, that's what gets cut to pay for the tariffs.

“We promised not to pass the tariffs along to our customers or to our partner farmers, so the irony is that saving money domestically became the only way to cover the additional costs. We cut the majority of our new product development, slowed hiring and renegotiated domestic costs like shipping and packaging, finding every dollar we can on the American side of the business to offset what we're paying at the border.

“We've spent well into the six figures in tariffs over the past year across both regimes,” Zohar continues. “We're working through the CAPE system to process and recover what we paid, and we've received our first refund, which was encouraging.

“More than 90% of what we're owed is still pending without clear timing, so we're watching it closely. It's an entry-by-entry process, and so just applying for a refund requires American businesses to devote time, energy and money to navigate the refund system.”

Any tips for other food & beverage companies applying for refunds?

“Refunds don't come automatically, they have to be claimed,” he answered. “As with any imports to the U.S., [this] can be a confusing, nuanced system, and mistakes can be costly. We worked with our customs broker to file refunds on our behalf and manage the process.

“Build a running reconciliation of what you've paid versus what's been refunded so you always know your exact exposure,” Zohar continues. “And make sure your HTS [Harmonized Tariff Schedule] classifications are clean, because errors there can delay or complicate refunds significantly. We'd encourage anyone with questions to visit Liberty Justice Center's Project TERRA website at libertyjusticecenter.org/tariffs/terra.”