(The Epoch Times)—The Trump administration has appealed a court order requiring U.S. customs authorities to refund roughly $166 billion in tariffs that the Supreme Court previously ruled were unlawfully imposed under a federal emergency powers law.

The Justice Department filed a notice of appeal on June 2 seeking review of an April 17 order by the U.S. Court of International Trade directing U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to refund duties collected under tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.

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The appeal marks the latest move in a legal battle that could determine how quickly importers receive billions of dollars in refunds following the Supreme Court’s landmark Feb. 20 decision, which found that Trump exceeded his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs.

In that 6–3 ruling, the high court found that the IEEPA authorization to “regulate” the importation of goods into the United States could not be stretched to support Trump’s broad tariff program.

“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,” Chief Justice John Roberts stated, writing for the majority. “Those words cannot bear such weight.”

The decision potentially affects one of the largest tariff collections in U.S. history. The Penn Wharton Budget Model estimated that importers could ultimately be entitled to approximately $175 billion in refunds.

Trump said the Supreme Court should have provided more guidance on how companies are to be reimbursed for the tariffs, hinting at a prolonged legal battle.

“We’ll end up being in court for the next five years,” he said in February after the ruling, noting that the refunds would be determined by future court decisions.

Days after oral arguments were heard in November 2025, Trump said a negative decision by the Supreme Court could implicate trillions of dollars.

“The ‘unwind’ in the event of a negative decision on Tariffs, would be, including investments made, to be made, and return of funds, in excess of 3 Trillion Dollars,” Trump said in a post on social media, adding that the impact would affect national security and be “devastating” to the country’s future.

Refund Fight Heads to Appeals Court

The administration’s appeal challenges an April 17 order by Judge Richard K. Eaton, who has been assigned to oversee tariff refund cases arising from the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Eaton ruled that all businesses that paid the unlawful IEEPA tariffs should benefit from the Supreme Court’s decision and directed the CBP to begin recalculating duties and returning the money.

While there is little dispute that importers are owed refunds, the legal fight has increasingly focused on how and when the government should return the funds.

Eaton said in a May 29 order that the case involves $166 billion in “unlawfully collected” duties and noted that CBP had not yet explained how it planned to refund all affected importers, particularly smaller businesses.

He said billions of dollars had already been returned—mostly to large importers—through a CBP refund program, but that billions more remain to be processed.

“To date, Customs has not proposed a method for complying with the court’s order to refund all of the unlawfully collected duties, including those owing to small importers,” he wrote in the May order.

The Liberty Justice Center, which represented several small businesses in the original challenge to Trump’s tariffs, said it would continue pressing for refunds.

“American businesses deserve their money back, and we will continue fighting to ensure those refunds are delivered quickly and fairly,” the group said in a June 3 statement.

The organization said Eaton’s recent filings show that progress on refunds occurred only after the court ordered the government to act.

The next major test in the case comes on June 9, when Eaton will hold a hearing focused on unresolved refund issues.

The Liberty Justice Center said the proceeding could help the litigation “move toward a practical resolution” after months of disputes over how businesses should be repaid.