Exporters urged to work with buyers on US tariff refunds

EXPORTERS said they must work with their US buyers to recover duties collected under the US International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said.

In a social media post on Friday, the DTI’s Export Marketing Bureau (EMB) noted that the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) service announced the plan to refund duties collected under the IEEPA through the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) tool.

US President Donald J. Trump last year imposed a 19% duty on goods from five ASEAN members — the Philippines, Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia.

However, the US Supreme Court ruled that the tariffs were imposed without proper statutory authority, requiring the government to return unlawfully collected payments to importers.

The EMB said only the US Importer of Record or the authorized customs broker who filed the entry may submit refund claims.  

“Philippine exporters are encouraged to coordinate closely with their US importers to confirm whether IEEPA duties were paid and to establish clear arrangements on how any recovered amounts will be handled, especially where there have been cost-sharing arrangements,” the EMB said.

Philippine exporters may also provide their US importers the documents needed to proceed with the refund.

The EMB referred exporters to the official CBP IEEPA Duty Refunds page.

The US has long been the Philippines’ biggest export market. At the end of February, exports to the US amounted to $2.58 billion. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz