CIT March 6 Conference: Live Updates & Importer Analysis
The Court of International Trade holds its closed conference today to determine how CBP will process $130-175 billion in IEEPA tariff refunds. We're tracking every development. UPDATE: CBP says it cannot comply — $166B confirmed.
CONFERENCE RESULTS: CBP says it CANNOT immediately comply with refund order
$166 billion confirmed. 330,000 importers affected. CBP proposes 45-day automated system. Full analysis →
📬 Get IEEPA Refund Updates — Free
CIT proceedings, CBP guidance, refund timelines. No spam — only when something important happens.
🚨 What Importers Should Do RIGHT NOW
Verify ACH Enrollment in ACE Portal
Since February 6, 2026, CBP only issues electronic refunds via the ACE Portal. If you're not enrolled for ACH payments, you cannot receive refunds. Check your ACE account today.
Check Entry Liquidation Status
Determine whether your entries are unliquidated, liquidated-but-not-final (within 180-day protest window), or final. Each category has different refund procedures.
File Protests for Entries Approaching 180-Day Deadline
Once an entry is liquidated and 180 days pass without a protest, it becomes final. The universal refund order may not help final entries. File protests as a precaution for any entries approaching this deadline.
Estimate Your Refund
Use our free estimator or detailed calculator to understand what you could recover.
☀️ March 6 Morning — Conference Day Intel
Key open questions heading into today's conference: What counts as “liquidation not final”? Typically 180 days after liquidation date equals the protest deadline. Government is expected to appeal and seek a Federal Circuit stay. Entries approaching the 180-day deadline should file protests NOW as a precaution. Also critical: CBP has required ACH enrollment in the ACE Portal since February 6, 2026 — electronic refunds only.
Judge Eaton's order is legally aggressive — extends relief to all importers, not just the 2,000+ who filed lawsuits. Thousands more paid IEEPA tariffs without filing. Eaton distinguished Trump v. CASA (universal injunctions generally impermissible) by citing the CIT's exclusive jurisdiction under the Customs Courts Act of 1980 — arguing trade court is a constitutional exception.
Government must present a concrete refund administration plan — how CBP will process refunds for millions of entries without requiring individual complaints from thousands of importers. This is the operational question: can the system handle $130-175B in refunds at scale?
📋 What's Happening Today
The Conference
- 📅 Date: March 6, 2026 (closed conference)
- ⚖️ Judge: Hon. Richard K. Eaton (sole judge)
- 📍 Court: U.S. Court of International Trade, NYC
- 📂 Case: Atmus Filtration v. United States (1:26-cv-01259-RKE)
Key Questions
- 🔹 How will CBP process refunds without individual protests?
- 🔹 What's the timeline for importers to receive funds?
- 🔹 Will interest be paid on refund amounts?
- 🔹 How do unliquidated vs. reliquidated entries differ?
🕐 Timeline of Events
SCOTUS Invalidates IEEPA Tariffs (6-3)
Supreme Court rules IEEPA does not authorize trade tariffs. $175B in tariffs collected since April 2025 potentially refundable.
Federal Circuit Denies DOJ Stay
Government's emergency motion to delay refunds denied. Mandate issued "forthwith."
Judge Eaton Orders Universal Refund
CIT orders CBP to refund ALL qualifying importers — not just Atmus. CBP ordered to stop calculating IEEPA tariffs. Section 122 tariffs increased to 15%.
24 State AGs Sue to Block Section 122
NY AG Letitia James + 23 states file in CIT challenging Section 122 replacement tariffs as unconstitutional overreach.
CIT Closed Conference — Refund Procedures
Conference to determine HOW CBP will process the universal refund order. Mechanics, timeline, interest, entry classifications.
Government Appeal Expected
DOJ expected to appeal Judge Eaton's universal refund order. Timeline and venue uncertain.
Section 122 Expiration Cliff
Section 122 tariffs expire after 150 days unless renewed or replaced by Congress.
🔍 Pre-Conference Intelligence
Sullivan & Cromwell Memo
Government has committed to paying interest on refunds. This is significant — the interest alone on $175B could run into billions. S&C advises importers to document all IEEPA duties paid with precise HTS classifications.
Buchalter Law Analysis
The March 6 order applies only to unliquidated and voluntarily reliquidatable entries. Importers with already-liquidated entries may need separate proceedings. Government expected to appeal — but refunds should proceed regardless during appeal.
RSM Importer Guide
Importers should pull ACE reports and identify entries under HTS headings 9903.01.xx and 9903.02.xx. These are the IEEPA-specific tariff codes. Calculate total duties paid under these headings — that's your refund baseline.
Snell & Wilmer Warning
Downstream businesses (distributors, retailers) may demand pass-through of refunds from importers who raised prices to cover tariffs. Importers should review contracts and prepare for potential claim demands from end-users.
CNBC: Atmus Filtration
The named plaintiff, Atmus Filtration (formerly Cummins Filtration), paid approximately $11 million in IEEPA tariffs. Their case became the vehicle for universal refund relief benefiting all importers.
📡 Live Updates — March 6
CBP Executive Director Brandon Lord filed a sworn declaration: the agency faces “unprecedented volume” and cannot immediately process $166 billion in refunds. The numbers: 330,000 importers, 53 million entries, 1.6 billion entry lines, 4.4 million man-hours needed for manual processing. Only 21,000 of 330,000 importers have ACH accounts set up. Full analysis →
Rather than 4.4M hours of manual work, CBP is requesting 45 days to build new ACE functionality. The proposed system: importers file a single declaration listing entries → ACE validates and aggregates → one ACH payment per importer. CBP says this saves ~4 million labor hours. Question: will Judge Eaton accept a 45-day delay after ordering refunds “forthwith”?
CBP's ACE system auto-liquidates entries every Friday at 2:00 AM. CBP cannot separate IEEPA entries from non-IEEPA in the automated queue. 339,000 entries with IEEPA duties were already set to finalize this morning. System processes only 10,000 lines at a time vs. 1.6 billion affected. Importers bundle duty types on single lines requiring manual calculation.
Reuters reports a court official described today's meeting as a “settlement conference” — Judge Eaton meeting behind closed doors with government lawyers to hammer out the refund process. This framing suggests negotiation and compromise, not a simple status report.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters the administration is “likely” to introduce a new 15% global tariff in coming days — up from the current 10% Section 122 rate — to replace the invalidated IEEPA duties.
🎯 What Importers Should Do Now
✅ Do Immediately
- • Pull your ACE reports for all IEEPA entries
- • Calculate total duties under HTS 9903.01.xx / 9903.02.xx
- • Preserve all entry summaries and payment records
- • Enroll in ACE Portal + set up ACH refund authorization (REQUIRED)
- • Brief your customs broker on the Eaton order
- • Price your refund claim
⚠️ Watch Out For
- • Government appeal that could delay (not block) refunds
- • Downstream claim demands from distributors/retailers
- • Already-liquidated entries may need separate action
- • Section 122 tariffs (15%) still apply to new imports
- • Scam offers to "accelerate" your refund — CBP is the only channel
📬 Get IEEPA Refund Updates — Free
CIT proceedings, CBP guidance, refund timelines. No spam — only when something important happens.
Related Coverage
CIT March 6: What to Expect
Deep dive on the conference agenda
24 States Sue to Block Section 122
State AG lawsuit analysis
Judge Eaton Orders Universal Refund
The March 4 order explained
Federal Circuit Denies DOJ Stay
Why the government can't delay refunds
Section 122 vs. IEEPA Comparison
Understanding the new tariff regime
How to File a CBP Protest
Step-by-step refund guide