CBP Says 15% Of Trump Tariff Refund Claims Rejected So Far
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said Tuesday, April 28, 2026, it has rejected about 15% of businesses' claims seeking refunds of tariffs tied to former President Trump, CBS News reported.
The agency gave the figure as it processed early batches of applications submitted under a refund program, the report said. The rejection rate covers claims evaluated so far and could raise cash-flow and planning questions for affected importers.
The episode traces back to tariffs the Trump administration imposed on imports beginning in 2018, which prompted years of legal fights and industry complaints and eventually a mechanism for companies to seek money back via administrative claims. The report did not include a total dollar amount for denied or approved claims or a breakdown of rejections by industry.
Show source details & analysis (1 source)
📌 Key Facts
- CAPE tariff refund portal opened on April 20, 2026 to process refunds after a February Supreme Court ruling against Trump’s emergency tariffs.
- As of April 26, 2026, CBP had received over 75,000 refund requests and deemed more than 47,000 properly filed, covering about 11 million tariff payments.
- Roughly 15% of tariff refund submissions have been rejected so far, and CAPE only accepts claims tied to Trump-era tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
- CBP reported just one brief 18-minute outage on April 20, 2026, while reconfiguring resources for CAPE processing.
📰 Source Timeline (1)
Follow how coverage of this story developed over time