Welcome back to Trade Talk, your Sunday read on what moved in duties, tariffs and customs this week, and what to do about it before Monday. This issue is brought to you with our partner, Evana.
The biggest news landed quietly on a Thursday: a federal court gave importers who never sued a seat at the IEEPA refund table. Here's what's inside:
The refund class action: who's in it, what it does and doesn't do yet, and what happens next.
The rest of the week in 60 seconds: CAPE Phase 3, a $166 billion tally, China tariffs, mail imports, USMCA and refund security.
Your to-do list: five moves to make this week, plus every deadline between now and January.
1. A refund class for importers who never sued
On Oct. 8, Court of International Trade Judge Richard K. Eaton certified a class in Freestyle World, Inc. v. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (Court No. 26-01088). The class covers all importers of record who paid duties under the challenged IEEPA tariff orders between Feb. 1, 2025, and Feb. 19, 2026, except companies that already filed their own refund suits (U.S. Court of International Trade).
Why that matters: until now, the money hardest to recover sat with companies that never went to court. CAPE Phases 1 and 2 handled unliquidated and reconciliation-flagged entries, but Phase 3, which opened Oct. 6, only reaches finally liquidated entries for named plaintiffs. The class is built to close that gap. Judge Eaton wrote that he certified it in the "hope, and expectation" that it leads to liquidation or reliquidation of every affected entry, with refunds and interest following.
What it does, and what it doesn't do yet
You don't have to sign up. It's an injunctive class under Rule 23(b)(2), so membership is automatic. There's no opt-in, no opt-out and no court-ordered notice.
No money moves yet. The order sets up the case; it doesn't order CBP to pay anyone today. The parties meet with the court Oct. 13 and owe a proposed schedule by Oct. 22, including when the government will respond to the class complaint.
The government is fighting this. The administration has opposed court-ordered refunds for non-plaintiffs, citing the Supreme Court's limits on universal relief (Bloomberg Law). Expect an appeal.
For scale: as of Oct. 2, CBP had accepted about $136.6 billion in potential and certified refunds through CAPE, and about $126 billion in duties and interest had gone to Treasury for payment, per an Oct. 6 government filing (Bloomberg Law). CBP's own estimate of the total is $166 billion. Part of what's still missing is exactly the kind of entry the class is aimed at.
Our read: don't wait on the class for anything CAPE can already pay. File what's eligible now, and treat the class as the backstop for finally liquidated entries. If those are large, talk to trade counsel about whether class membership is enough for you. This is general information, not legal advice.
2. The rest of the week in 60 seconds
CAPE Phase 3 is live (Oct. 6). It's open to CIT plaintiffs with a reliquidation order who gave CBP their importer number by July 30. Who can actually file →
CBP put a number on IEEPA refunds (Oct. 5). A paperwork filing pegs the total at $166 billion across 53 million entry summaries. Comments close Nov. 4. What the filing reveals →
The original China tariffs survived review (Oct. 7). USTR kept the 2018 Section 301 List 1 and List 2 duties, about $50 billion of goods at 25%. What's next →
The truce didn't cover 178 exclusions. The Section 301 product exclusions and the China vessel-fee pause still expire Nov. 9. As of Oct. 11, USTR hadn't published an extension. Check your exposure →
CBP proposed bonds and brokers for mail imports (Oct. 8). Every low-value and mail entry would need a bond, and non-owners would need a licensed broker. Comments are due Dec. 7. The proposal →
Changing refund bank details now takes a code (Oct. 10). Any ACH change in the ACE Portal needs an email or SMS security token first. What to check →
USMCA goes to annual review (Oct. 5). USTR opened comments on the agreement after the U.S. declined to extend it in July. Comments are due Jan. 12, 2027. Why it matters →
3. What to do this week
Run the IEEPA math on your own entries. List every entry with IEEPA duties from February 2025 through February 2026 and sort it into three buckets: already refunded, CAPE-eligible now, and finally liquidated. The third bucket is the one the class action is about. If you'd rather have someone do this for you, IEEPA refund services like Evana will pull your entries and file what's eligible.
Check your ACH details before you need them. CBP has rejected thousands of approved refunds over missing bank information, and changes now need a verification code. Make sure your Trade Account Owner's email and phone are current.
Sort mail shipments before Oct. 22. Anything needing FDA, USDA or CPSC sign-off, carrying a Chapter 98 or 99 duty or claiming a trade-agreement preference has to move off the postal informal entry process. The details →
Price the Nov. 9 snap-back. Ask your broker for every entry under HTSUS 9903.88.69 or 9903.88.70. If you're holding bonded inventory, decide whether to withdraw it before the exclusions lapse.
Re-check your bond. Stacked tariffs are pushing duty totals past what many continuous bonds were sized for. Run 10% of your trailing 12 months of duties against your bond amount. How the math works →
THE CALENDAR, OCT. 13 TO JAN. 12
Oct. 13. Court conference in the IEEPA refund class action.
Oct. 22. Mail-entry cutoff for PGA goods, Chapter 98/99 items and FTA claims. Same day, the class-action parties owe the court a proposed schedule.
Nov. 4. Comments close on CBP's IEEPA refund worksheet (the $166 billion filing).
Nov. 9, 11:59 p.m. ET. 178 Section 301 exclusions and the China vessel-fee pause expire unless USTR extends them.
Dec. 7. Comments due on CBP's proposed low-value and mail-entry rule.
Jan. 12, 2027. Comments and hearing requests due on the USMCA joint review.
From our partner: Evana
Trade Talk is published in partnership with Evana, a platform that finds and recovers money importers are owed on duties they've already paid. Evana isn't a customs brokerage; it has a team of licensed customs brokers who prepare and file CAPE declarations for IEEPA refunds and duty drawback claims, which can reach back up to five years. It doesn't handle litigation, so for court questions like the class action, talk to trade counsel. Curious what you might be owed? Try Evana's free refund estimator.
Keep an eye on
The class action's schedule after Oct. 22, and any government appeal of the certification. Whether USTR publishes a Section 301 exclusion extension before Nov. 9. And the next CAPE deployment, which CBP has said will cover entries held back by drawback flags. We'll cover each as it moves.
Got questions? Drop a comment below. Ask our licensed customs brokers, and they'll get right back to you here in the comments.
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