UPS sued the U.S. federal government and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Friday, asking the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) to order refunds, with interest, on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariffs the Supreme Court struck down in February.
The lawsuit covers entries the CBP’s refund system cannot process by itself, with the agency saying these entries can only be reopened with a judge’s order.
The courier has already received about $500 million in tariff refunds via the system, known as the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE). UPS had passed roughly $230 million of that to customers by the start of October, with another $270 million still owed, according to its third-quarter filing.
The money at issue belongs in large part to UPS customers rather than the delivery company itself.
“In many instances, one or more of the plaintiffs acted as the importer of record on behalf of their customers, who bore the cost of the challenged duties,” counsel for UPS said in the 16-page filing. “Plaintiffs seek refunds of the challenged duties borne by their customers and intend to pass through those refunds to their customers once t...