On February 20, 2026 the United States Supreme Court struck down the Trump Administration’s use of IEEPA Tariffs.
- The Supreme Court’s ruling does not rule on if or how tariffs which have already been collected will be refunded or not. Further litigation will likely determine this. At this time refunds have not been authorized and we have no further information on this yet.
- The ruling does not provide specific instructions to immediately cease collection of the tariffs. As a result, all tariff rates will remain the same until an office notice is received through C.S.M.S. from U.S. Customs.
- This ruling does NOT affect tariffs imposed under different legal authorities such as Section 232 and 301 tariffs.
- The administration is expected to act quickly to implement new tariffs using other means such as Section 122, 232, 301, and 338 tariffs.
- Section 122 and 338 tariffs can be imposed rather quickly and without any formal investigation.
- Section 232 and 301 tariffs both require formal investigations that usually take several months to complete and implement. In general these tariffs have been upheld by the courts.
- In comments delivered just after 1:30pm on February 20, Trump states he will implement a 10% Global Tariff under Section 122 and will initiate investigations for additional Section 301 tariffs.
- If a 10% Global Tariff is implemented under Section 122, it may only be in place for 150 days unless extended by Congress. As of the time of this writing, an official executive order implementing a 10% Global Tariff has not been signed.
Atron is monitoring the impacts of the decision and will provide further updates once more is known.
PREPARE NOW FOR POSSIBLE REFUNDS
Effective February 6, 2026, U.S. Customs moved to an all electronic refund system. They will no longer issue paper refund checks in the mail. It is important that all importers register for an ACE account so they may receive any possible refunds through the current system. IEEPA Tariff refunds are not yet certain, but a valid ACE account is required to receive any refunds if they are given out.
Please visit the U.S. Customs ACE Portal Page to apply: https://www.cbp.gov/trade/automated/how-to-use-ace/portal-applying
