UK businesses face months long tariff refund slog
British companies may face month long delays getting refunds for President Donald Trump’s illegally imposed Customs Tariffs, say leading audit, tax and business advisory firm, Blick Rothenberg.
Robert Salter, a director at the firm, said: “UK businesses that faced significant customs duties on their imports to the USA will welcome the news that America’s Court of International Trade has ruled that they must be refunded. However, there is no definitive timeline as to when the refunds have to be made.”
He added: “Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will likely struggle to cope with the scale of the refunds that now need to be paid, meaning it could be many months before importers are refunded. The tariffs imposed in 2025 collected around $130bn before they were ruled illegal by the Supreme Court. This refund money must be traced and allocated to businesses worldwide, and is further complicated by the frequent changes in tariff rates that occurred.”
Robert said: “It is quite possible that the US government will try and appeal the Court of International Trade’s repayment instructions and that could further delay the whole refund process. It is even possible that the US government will attempt to refuse to pay the tariffs regardless of legal obligations to do so.”
He added: “It should also be noted that not all businesses exporting products to the USA during the period that the tariffs applied will actually be eligible for tariff refunds. Many firms that exported to American clients during the period in question would have sold their products on an ‘ex-works’ or ‘cost & freight’ basis. The obligation to pay the tariffs where the goods were sold under these terms would have actually sat with the US importer rather than the British businesses.
Robert said: “This means there will be no refunds for the British businesses in these cases, even though they might have suffered from reduced sales to the US during this whole period because of the now illegal tariffs.”