The Supreme Court Said No: What the IEEPA Ruling Means for Your Imports
- 36 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 14-MAR-2026
On February 20, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court issued one of the most significant trade decisions in decades. In a 6-3 ruling, the Court held that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the President to impose tariffs. For importers who spent the past year absorbing steep duty increases, it is a big deal. But the dust is far from settled.
Here is what happened, what it means right now, and what you should be doing about it.
How We Got Here
The case consolidated two challenges: Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump and Trump v. V.O.S. Selections, Inc. Together they targeted both the "Reciprocal Tariffs" first imposed on Liberation Day in April 2025 and the "Trafficking and Immigration Tariffs" on Canada, Mexico, and China that began in February 2025.
The Court concluded that IEEPA's grant of authority to "regulate importation" does not include the power to impose tariffs, emphasizing that the power to impose tariffs is "very clearly a branch of the taxing power" reserved for Congress under Article I of the U.S. Constitution.
Chief Justice Roberts was blunt. "Based on two words separated by 16 others in IEEPA — 'regulate' and 'importation' — the President asserts the independent power to impose tariffs on imports from any country, of any product, at any rate, for any amount of time. Those words cannot bear such weight." SCOTUSblog
The dissent came from Justices Thomas, Alito, and Kavanaugh. But six justices across ideological lines agreed: Congress never gave the President this authority.
The Refund Question (The Complicated Part)
The scale is unprecedented. Economists estimate that IEEPA-based tariff collections total approximately $175 to $179 billion, a figure that exceeds the combined fiscal 2025 spending of the Department of Transportation and the Department of Justice. More than 1,000 businesses had already sought tariff refunds before the ruling was issued.
The decision does not explicitly order immediate refunds. However, the ruling that the tariffs were collected illegally has opened the door to refund claims. Importers generally have 180 days after goods are "liquidated" to protest and request refunds from CBP.
The path is not straightforward. The Supreme Court remanded decisions on how to handle refunds of previously paid tariffs to the lower courts. Neither the Court's decision nor the executive order revoking the IEEPA tariffs addressed refunds, leaving the issue to renewed proceedings before the Court of International Trade, where importers may need to pursue administrative remedies or litigation amid continued uncertainty.
In plain terms: the money is potentially recoverable, but it will not arrive automatically. The process will involve the Court of International Trade, CBP reliquidation, and in many cases, individual protest filings.
What Importers Should Do Now
Check your entry status. The refund window ties to liquidation dates. Entries that have already liquidated may require a protest filed within 180 days of that liquidation. If you are not sure where your entries stand, ask us now.
Do not assume your duty rate is the same as last month. IEEPA duties are gone. Section 122 duties are now in play. Section 232 and 301 duties remain. The combination on any given shipment depends on the product, country of origin, and HTS code. Get a current calculation before your next shipment moves.
Document everything. Clients who paid IEEPA-based tariffs should continue making payments on active entries until CBP formally processes the termination on each entry, since CBP cannot cease collecting based solely on the Supreme Court opinion but must receive executive direction. Keep records of every IEEPA-tagged payment. You will need them.
Watch the Section 122 situation. Secretary Bessent has stated that combining Section 122, Section 232, and Section 301 tariffs "will result in virtually unchanged tariff revenue in 2026." Ropes & Gray LLP The administration is actively working to replace the lost revenue through other legal authorities. More changes are likely.
The Bottom Line
The Court drew a clear constitutional line. Congress controls the taxing power. An emergency statute that says nothing about tariffs or duties cannot hand that power to the executive branch. The Federal Circuit had characterized the IEEPA tariffs as "unbounded in scope, amount, and duration," and the Supreme Court agreed.
What this means practically is that your duty exposure changed significantly at midnight on February 24. The overall tariff environment is still in flux. And if your company paid IEEPA duties over the past year, there may be money on the table worth pursuing.
TRIO is monitoring this situation closely. If you have questions about how this ruling affects your specific shipments, classification, or duty exposure, reach out to our team directly.
