No change at the border just yet, says former customs officialpublished at 03:34 British Summer Time
Katie Silver
Business reporter, Singapore
I’ve just been speaking with a former top official at the Customs Border Protection Agency who told me they’ll be no change at the border just yet, tariffs will still be paid.
It needs to go through the appeals process then, if successful, the CBP will issue directions to its officers.
There’s a long way to go yet. And indeed, a higher court might be more Trump-friendly.
If all courts do uphold the ruling, businesses who’ve had to pay tariffs will receive refunds on the amounts paid, with interest.
These include the so-called reciprocal tariffs, which were lowered to 10% across the board for most countries and were up to almost 150% on Chinese products, now 30%.
John Leonard, who was until recently high up at the CBP, said the law Trump used to justify reciprocal tariffs (the IEEPA) was an obscure law from the 1970s. It was dug up during Leonard’s time at the CBP in 2019 to justify tariffs against Mexico.
Steel and aluminium tariffs fall under a different law (Section 232) and aren’t impacted by today’s ruling.
