CIT orders CBP to reliquidate non-final IEEPA entries

On 4 March 2026 Senior Judge Richard K. Eaton of the U.S. Court of International Trade entered an order in Atmus Filtration, Inc. v. United States, Court No. 26-01259 (and related proceedings flowing from V.O.S. Selections, Inc. v. United States) directing U.S. Customs and Border Protection to liquidate unliquidated entries and reliquidate without the IEEPA-tariff duties all affected entries that remain non-final — entries within the 180-day protest window under 19 U.S.C. § 1514(c)(3), entries with protests pending, and entries within CBP’s § 1501 voluntary-reliquidation window — with the order’s reach extending to all affected importers, not only the litigants before the court.¹² The order implements the U.S. Supreme Court’s 20 February 2026 holding in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump (No. 24-1287), consolidated with Trump v. V.O.S. Selections, Inc. (No. 25-250), that IEEPA does not authorise the President to impose tariffs.³ The court grounded its remedy in the Administrative Procedure Act’s “set aside” authority at 5 U.S.C. § 706(2) and in the CIT’s exclusive jurisdiction over IEEPA-tariff disputes under 28 U.S.C. § 1581(i)(1)(B).⁴⁵

1. Refunds proceed through the established statutory chain: importers file protests under 19 U.S.C. § 1514 within 180 days of liquidation under § 1514(c)(3); CBP reliquidates under § 1520(a) (refunds) or § 1520(c) (clerical-error reliquidation); and interest accrues from the date of deposit under 19 U.S.C. § 1505(c).⁶ The duties eligible for refund are those terminated by Executive Order 14389: the additional duties imposed under Executive Orders 14193 (Canada fentanyl), 14194 (Mexico fentanyl), 14195 (China fentanyl), 14245 (Venezuela secondary), 14257 (reciprocal), 14323 (Brazil), 14329 (Russia secondary), 14380 (Cuba secondary) and 14382 (Iran secondary).⁷

2. Entries that liquidated more than 180 days before the SCOTUS ruling and against which no protest was filed are presumed final under § 1514(a) and fall outside the order’s reach absent separate court action; the aggregate refund exposure depends on the share of entries remaining non-final and on § 1505(c) interest accrual. Treasury Monthly Treasury Statement IEEPA-attributable customs receipts provide the authoritative collections series.⁸

3. The underlying § 1701 national-emergency declarations supporting the terminated orders remain in force; Executive Order 14389 revokes only the additional ad valorem duty collection, not the emergencies themselves, and non-tariff IEEPA actions (SDN-list designations, export-control measures) continue to operate under National Emergencies Act § 1622 absent presidential termination.⁹