American importers could soon automatically receive full refunds of tariffs collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, totaling $166 billion nationwide. In the Freestyle World, Inc. v. United States class action, lawyers asked the U.S. Court of International Trade on Tuesday to return all collected funds to more than 330,000 importers, including those that did not file individual lawsuits. More than $115 billion had already been returned to companies by August through the customs agency’s CAPE system, but thousands of importers still have not received refunds because of technical errors, insufficient legal resources or incomplete paperwork. The Trump administration wants to restrict refunds to importers that sued and appealed the universal refund order issued in April by Judge Richard Eaton. The court is considering the class action, with the Department of Justice scheduled to answer the initial complaint by Nov. 13 and the relief motion by Dec. 9.
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