更广泛的法律局势也让进口商看到希望：2 月，最高法院推翻了 Trump 以紧急权限征收的关税；3 月，国际贸易法院命令联邦政府向约 330,000 名进口商退还 1600 亿美元外加利息。Bloomberg Economics 表示，超过 53 million 笔进口申报包含 IEEPA 关税，显示这可能成为美国史上最大规模的退款。即便如此，Sitner 说 Peace Vans 在过去一年支付了超过 100,000 美元的关税，大部分成本都被吞进毛利，利润约被削减 25%，而政府仍可能上诉，也很可能不会很快自动发放退款。
面临这些索赔的企业正权衡 3 条路：提告、出售，或等待。自 3 月 1 日以来，已提起近 1,000 件关税退款诉讼，而过去一年总数超过 3,000 件，但律师表示诉讼成本高昂，起步就要 8,000 到 10,000 美元的固定费用，之后还可能再增加数十万美元。二级市场对某些索赔的定价高达面值的 75%，适用于 10 million 美元或以上的资产组合；同时，CBP 的 CAPE 退款系统预计会先处理 63% 最简单的 IEEPA 申报。进口商被告知要注册 ACE、提交 protest，并追踪未清算的申报，但对 Peace Vans 这类小公司而言，另一个麻烦是 FedEx 等快递公司在技术上往往才是进口方，让 Sitner 暂时把这些付款视为损失，即使招聘已暂停、租约被取消，而公司也希望一旦退款到来就能补偿客户。
Harley Sitner, who runs Seattle-based Peace Vans, is watching a floating shipping container of German van parts off South Carolina because its tariff classification could swing costs sharply. The container holds reclining "rock n’ roll beds" for vans, and after President Donald Trump’s April 2, 2025 "Liberation Day" tariff rollout, the difference between treating them as EU goods at about 10% and classifying them as furniture or metal-intensive goods could mean a much higher levy. On a $125,000 shipment, Sitner estimates the tariff bill could range from $13,000 to $80,000, reflecting how a single classification decision now matters far more than it did before the latest tariff regime.
The broader legal picture has created hope for importers: in February, the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s emergency-powers duties, and in March the Court of International Trade ordered the federal government to refund $160 billion plus interest to roughly 330,000 importers. Bloomberg Economics says more than 53 million import entries included IEEPA duties, showing the scale of what could become the largest repayment in US history. Even so, Sitner says Peace Vans paid more than $100,000 in tariffs over the past year, with most of the cost absorbed in margins and profit cut by about 25%, while the administration may still appeal and likely will not send out automatic refunds quickly.
Businesses facing these claims are weighing 3 paths: sue, sell, or wait. Nearly 1,000 tariff refund cases have been filed since March 1, out of more than 3,000 over the past year, but lawyers say litigation is expensive, with flat fees of $8,000 to $10,000 to start and potentially hundreds of thousands more. A secondary market is pricing some claims at as much as 75 cents on the dollar for portfolios of $10 million or more, while CBP’s CAPE refund system is expected to handle 63% of the simplest IEEPA entries first. Importers are being told to enroll in ACE, file protests, and track unliquidated entries, yet for small firms like Peace Vans an added complication is that couriers such as FedEx often technically imported the goods, leaving Sitner treating the payments as a loss for now even as hiring is paused, a lease was canceled, and the company hopes to reimburse customers if refunds arrive.