LEXINGTON, Ky. — American businesses began filing claims Monday for $166 billion in refunds from President Donald Trump’s emergency tariffs, which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down in February as unconstitutional. Kentucky businesses could recover nearly $3 billion in illegal import duties, ac cording to preliminary estimates. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection launched a new electronic portal at 8 a.m. EST on Monday for importers and customs brokers to submit claims through the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries system, or CAPE. The government estimates refunds will be issued within 60 to 90 days of approval, though the process involves several bureaucratic steps. In February, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs imposed in April 2025 exceeded his constitutional authority. A U.S. Court of International Trade judge subsequently ordered the government to establish a refund system after finding over 330,000 importers paid roughly $166 billion in duties on more than 53 million shipments. The rollout has been marked by early technical issues and concerns about complexity. Main Street Alliance, which advocates for small businesses, reported that some entrepreneurs experienced portal crashes when the system went live Monday morning, though the system was operational by afternoon. “This is progress, but it’s not yet justice,” said Richard Trent, executive director of Main Street Alliance. Kentucky’s small businesses, already burdened by months of tariff uncertainty, stand to recover nearly $3 billion based on preliminary data compiled by We Pay the Tariffs, a coalition representing affected entrepreneurs. However, access to refunds hinges on navigating a complex multi-phase process. The current phase, Phase 1, is limited to recently estimated duties or those finalized within the past 80 days. Approximately 56,500 importers had registered by mid-April for electronic refunds totaling $127 billion, representing about 82% of the total owed. Older, more complicated tariff cases will have to wait for later phases. The Liberty Justice Center, which represented small business plaintiffs before the Supreme Court, established the Tariff Equity Refund Resource for America to provide free guidance to businesses navigating the system. “We took this fight all the way to the Supreme Court on behalf of small businesses, and we’re not stopping now,” said Sara Albrecht, the group’s chair. Small business owners and legal experts have expressed concerns about the refund process’s accessibility. Importers must submit declarations listing specific entry numbers and be prepared to provide detailed documentation. Trade attorneys warn that errors in submissions could result in partial or complete rejection of claims, leaving businesses without legal recourse until later phases of the process open. Following the Supreme Court’s decision, Trump imposed new 10% global tariffs in February under a separate authority, Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, creating additional uncertainty for Kentucky businesses already struggling with cash flow issues related to tariff costs. This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from Kentucky Lantern, enriched with 2 web searches. The original source is available at https://kentuckylantern.com/2026/04/20/repub/show-me-the-money-businesses-line-up-for-166b-in-refunds-from-trumps-illegal-tariffs/. The post Businesses line up for $166B in tariff refunds; Kentucky set for $3B appeared first on The Lexington Times. ...read more read less