US working on new tariff refund system that could be ready in 45 days

Washington, March 7 (IANS) A US government agency is working on a new system to simplify the tariff refund process that could be ready in 45 days, a report said, as many companies seek refunds of the Trump administration's emergency duties that the Supreme Court struck down last month.

Brandon Lord, executive director of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)'s trade policy and programs directorate, unveiled the work on a streamlined process requiring "minimal submission" from importers, in a filing with the U.S. Court of International Trade, according to the Associated Press, reports Yonhap news agency.

The CBP has collected about US$166 billion in tariffs from more than 330,000 importers under the emergency tariff program, the report said.

On Feb. 20, the high court ruled against U.S. President Donald Trump's use of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to justify country-specific "reciprocal" tariffs and other levies. The ruling did not outline any refund process.

In the filing, Lord estimated that currently, refunds would take more than 4.4 million man-hours to complete, underlining the difficulty in carrying out the refund process under the current system.

"This new process will require minimal submission from importers," Lord was quoted by the AP as saying.

Following the high court's ruling, the Trump administration is working to replace the emergency tariffs with new duties under different legal provisions.

On Feb. 24, the Trump administration started imposing a 10 percent global tariff under Section 122, with the rate expected to rise to 15 percent.

It is also leveraging Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act to conduct trade investigations, which U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer said are expected to cover "most major trading partners." Section 301 allows the USTR to investigate "unfair" trade practices on a country-by-country basis, he has said.

Meanwhile, a chartered plane to evacuate South Koreans from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will take off this weekend amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, the foreign ministry said on Saturday.

The ministry said it is arranging a 290-seat Etihad Airways chartered flight, set to depart from Abu Dhabi at noon on Sunday (local time).

—IANS

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