CASE BACKGROUND

Beginning on February 1, 2025, President Donald Trump, through a series of executive orders, increased tariffs on U.S. goods imported from nearly every foreign country. As a legal basis, the President invoked and relied upon the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IIEEPA).

On April 2, 2025—a date President Trump called “Liberation Day”—the President declared a “national emergency” regarding the United States’ trade deficit in bilateral trade relations. In response, the President signed an Executive Order raising a 10% baseline tariff on imports originating in nearly all foreign countries. From April through November 2025, President Trump signed ten additional Executive Orders raising, reducing, or otherwise modifying the IEEPA tariffs on a country-by-country basis.

On February 20, 2026, the United States Supreme Court determined that President Trump’s invocation of IEEPA “does not authorize the President to impose tariffs” and was an unconstitutional exercise of the President’s legislative power. (Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, No. 24-1287, slip. op. at 20 (U.S. Feb. 20, 2026)). Accordingly, all tariffs under IEEPA and all duties collected under that authority were done without authorization and were unlawful.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision, President Trump immediately replaced his 10% baseline tariff by invoking Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974—an action no U.S. President has ever taken. On February 21, Trump, announced via Truth Social, that the 10% tariffs would be raised to the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15% level.”

On February 22, 2026, United States Custom and Border Protection (CBP) announced that the duties enacted under the unlawful tariff orders “will no longer be collected for goods entered for consumption or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:00 a.m. eastern time on February 24, 2026.”

Despite revoking the IEEPA tariffs, CBP provided no guidance addressing refunds for duties already assessed and liquidated. It has not announced or issued any process or procedure to repay the illegally imposed and collected tariffs. Currently, there is no path forward for any prospective plaintiffs or class members to receive redress for the unlawful duties assessed and paid.

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Our firm is investigating importer’s abilities to obtain economic redress from these illegal IEEPA tariffs.

Please contact our firm if you:

• Have knowledge about any importers impacted by these unlawful tariffs.
• Want to learn more about our investigation into how these tariffs have economically affected importers across the country.

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