IEEPA Tariff Refund Litigation: Deciding Next Steps For CAPE Phase III

Key Takeaways

• CBP’s launch of CAPE Phase III finally opens a path for recovery of the earliest IEEPA tariffs paid since February 2025. Access currently remains tied to litigation before the U.S. Court of International Trade.
• Importers that have relied exclusively on the administrative refund process can now reevaluate their strategies. Filing suit and then participating in Phase III is now a path to maximizing potential tariff recovery although other avenues could also open.
• The two-year statute of limitations is approaching for the earliest IEEPA duties, leaving a narrowing window to preserve existing recovery options.

The long-awaited launch of Phase III in the administrative process for IEEPA tariff recovery has arrived. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) announced on October 6 that Phase III successfully went live in ACE’s Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (“CAPE”) function. This is good news coming after months of delay. Two days later, on