A U.S. trade court judge will hold a closed-door meeting with government lawyers to discuss how to return billions of dollars in tariffs collected under former President Donald Trump after the levies were ruled unconstitutional.

Judge Richard Eaton of the U.S. Court of International Trade will meet officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protection in what court officials described as a “settlement conference.” The meeting aims to establish a process to refund as much as $175 billion in tariffs to more than 300,000 importers.

The tariffs, a cornerstone of Trump’s economic policy, were struck down last month by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that the president had exceeded his authority in imposing them.

An Unprecedented Refund Process

Government lawyers have said the scale of the refund process would be unprecedented. Tens of millions of tariff payments may need to be reviewed manually, creating a complex administrative challenge for customs officials.

Judge Eaton has already ordered customs authorities to begin refunding tariffs through the agency’s existing internal procedures. The order applies broadly to all affected importers, not just the company that brought the initial case.

The lawsuit was filed by Atmus Filtration Inc, which said it paid about $11 million in tariffs later deemed illegal. The case, filed only recently, has unexpectedly become the legal vehicle for determining how refunds could be handled across roughly 2,000 related cases.

A Closed-Door Conference

The meeting will take place privately, which is unusual given that U.S. courts are generally open to the public. Court officials said the gathering qualifies as a settlement conference, a format sometimes used to discuss logistics or sensitive matters outside public hearings.

Lawyers for Atmus Filtration will be allowed to attend the meeting remotely, though neither the company nor customs officials commented publicly on the conference.

Judge Eaton indicated during a previous hearing that he hopes to develop a streamlined system that avoids forcing importers into lengthy litigation.

Economic Stakes

The refund effort could involve reviewing records tied to about 79 million shipments. Many affected companies are small businesses that worry the process could become costly and bureaucratically burdensome.

If a workable solution is reached, attorneys involved in related cases say the court could quickly publish a standardized process allowing most companies to receive refunds without filing separate lawsuits.

Analysis: Legal Fallout from Trump’s Trade Agenda

The dispute highlights the legal risks tied to sweeping executive trade policies. The tariffs were a central component of the Trump administration’s economic strategy, designed to protect U.S. industries and pressure trading partners.

However, the Supreme Court’s ruling not only dismantled those tariffs but also left unresolved the enormous administrative challenge of reimbursing businesses that paid them.

The refund process now risks becoming one of the largest trade-related legal undertakings in U.S. history. If mishandled, it could create years of litigation and administrative delays.

For the court and customs authorities, the immediate priority is to design a system that processes refunds quickly while maintaining legal consistency across thousands of cases an outcome that would prevent the tariff reversal from devolving into what one Supreme Court justice warned could become a legal and bureaucratic “mess.”

With information from Reuters.