We sent out an overview of the potential IEEPA refund situation explaining how companies can protect rights to potential IEEPA Tariff refunds. One of the concerns we highlighted is that in the event of a favorable U.S. Supreme Court decision, IEEPA refunds may not be available for entries that have liquidated. To protect against this eventuality, we have started filing protective cases in the U.S. Court of International Trade for our clients that request the court to enjoin U.S. Customs from liquidating the company’s entries. The purpose of the court filing is to maintain the status quo for the company until the final outcome of the U.S. Supreme Court case and refund methodology (if any) is known.
Imports that are most at risk of liquidating before a final U.S. Supreme Court decision are entries subject to the China Fentanyl IEEPA that went into place on February 4, 2025. Entries made on or after February 4, 2025, will likely begin liquidating after December 15, 2025, based upon CBP’s normal 314-day liquidation cycle.
The Mexico and Canada Fentanyl IEEPA tariffs were implemented on March 4, 2025, and entries subject to those tariffs will therefore likely start to liquidate on or after January 12, 2026.
The Liberation Day tariffs were implemented on April 2, 2025, and entries subject to those tariffs will likely start to liquidate on or after February 10, 2026.
If importers have entries that will begin liquidating, the most prudent and conservative option is for the importer to file its own protective case in the Court of International Trade.
Please contact one of our attorneys if you would like us to file such an action on your behalf.
