Importers still paying Trump’s tariffs after Supreme Court ruling

Despite Friday’s Supreme Court decision that ruled President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs are illegal, U.S. importers are still paying duties on goods entering the country.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has yet to update its Cargo System Management Service to remove the duties imposed by Trump under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Under U.S. trade policy, Customs must post updates on tariff changes and other trade-related information on its Cargo Systems Messaging Service.

On Friday, Customs posted a bulletin on the decision saying, “[T]he CBP is working with other government agencies to fully examine the implications of the SCOTUS decision. CBP will provide additional information and technical guidance for Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) filers as soon as it becomes available.”

CNBC was told by Customs that this is the latest update for importers for now.

The paperless Automated Commercial Environment is the Customs system used for processing imports and exports. An executive order signed by Trump in March charged the CBP with modernizing its manual payment system.

“Customs has not removed the requirement to report the IEEPA tariff codes in order to obtain a release of goods, so for cargo to continue moving, the IEEPA tariffs are still being reported on entries,” explained Lori Mullins,  director of operations at Rogers & Brown Custom Brokers. “We are still anticipating a CSMS message confirming that a change to now accept entries without these tariffs, but as of now, that change has not been made, and Customs still requires them.”

An estimated 211,000 containers of goods, valued at some $8.2 billion, arrived in U.S. ports between Friday and Sunday, according to Vizion’s trade platform Tradeview.

Mullins said importers have a 10-day window to pay the tariffs.

“No money is actually being transferred until day 10, so Custom entry summaries can be amended up until 9 days after cargo release, before the payment must be paid on day 10. After that, you’d be required to post payment and then file a post summary correction for a refund.”

The question, Customs brokers and trade attorneys say, is how CBP will handle entries for cargo release over the last 10 days that will pay next week.

“It’ll likely take Customs some time to reconfigure their system to reflect the Court’s ruling,” explained Michael Lowell, partner and chair of the Global Regulatory Enforcement Group at law firm Reed Smith. “So, this weekend importers file paperwork with the tariff on there, and then when Customs updates their system, the importer files a post summary correction (before payment), removing the tariff. The goods then come in this weekend without the tariff.”

The enormity of the corrections, though, will slow down the process, cautioned Lowell.

“Corrections usually take within a couple of weeks, up to 30 days,” he said. “However, we may see some delays given the scale of the issue this weekend.” 

This is just one layer of uncertainty weighing on importers. The questions surrounding refunds, which the Supreme Court did not rule on, will be decided by the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT).

“This is the first time a tariff has been declared unconstitutional with this amount of money at stake,” said Ben Bidwell, senior director for Customs for CH Robinson. “So there are still a lot of questions about whether the Court of International Trade will take steps opening the door for widespread refunds, for some companies to get some refunds or whether refunds are even on the table.”

In a customer Q&A on the Supreme Court ruling, transportation and fulfillment services giant Kuehne + Nagel urged its clients to have all customs documents in order when the CIT weighs in on refunds.

“The CIT is expected to handle any refund mechanisms, but no timelines exist; high volumes of claims could create years-long delays,” Kuehne + Nagel said.

CIT has yet to return CNBC’s request for comment.