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NEW YORK — <\/span>A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency official is set to testify in federal court Tuesday about the U.S. government’s plans for refunding billions of dollars that importers paid before the Supreme Court ruled that President Donald Trump illegally imposed certain tariffs<\/a> on goods from most other countries<\/a>. <\/p>\n Court of International Trade Judge Richard Eaton said he wanted to hear details that would help him decide whether to order the government to speed up and expand its system for issuing tariff refunds. The Justice Department subsequently appealed<\/a> an earlier order by Eaton to make all businesses that paid the now-defunct import taxes eligible for refunds plus interest. <\/p>\n The Justice Department argued in a court document that only companies that were parties in any of the more than 2.500 lawsuits<\/a> that challenged the tariffs were legally entitled to seek refunds. <\/p>\n With the dispute now in the hands of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Tuesday’s hearing in New York may provide more clarity about the next phase of the refund process. <\/p>\n Eaton ordered Customs and Border Protection in March to create a system by which \u201call importers of record\u201d<\/a> could apply for their share of the $166 billion CBP estimated it had collected before the Supreme Court struck down the global tariffs. <\/p>\n The agency launched the online system April 20, saying it would first review applications from importers whose tax bills had not been finalized. <\/p>\n Claims for refunds totaling $89.6 billion had been accepted for processing as of June 1, according to CBP, and the agency reported last month that it had so far directed the Treasury Department to issue $20.6 billion in refunds. <\/p>\n The pace and scope of the process became a contentious matter, however, when Eaton directed CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott to appear in court to discuss the agency’s timeline for complying with the judge’s \u201cuniversal\u201d order. The Justice Department objected and asked if one of Scott’s deputies could attend the hearing instead.<\/p>\n When Eaton insisted on hearing directly from the head of the agency, Justice Department lawyers appealed both that mandate and the judge’s broader ruling on refund eligibility. On Thursday, the Federal Circuit agreed to temporarily suspend the requirement for Scott to testify. <\/p>\n Eaton agreed to hear from Susan Thomas, the agency’s executive assistant commissioner for trade.<\/p>\n The hearing is expected to focus on CBP’s capability and willingness to open the refund process to companies with tariff payments that date back the farthest. <\/p>\n So far, the agency has limited applications to businesses that either did not have their tax bills finalized by the time the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s \u201creciprocal\u201d tariffs in late February or whose bills had been settled within the preceding 80 days. <\/p>\n In a court declaration ahead of the hearing, Thomas said CBP was developing a way to handle refunds involving older shipments but would not process cases beyond the 80-day window while Eaton’s order requiring for all duty payers was on appeal. <\/p>\n \u201cShould the court\u2019s order become final and require reliquidation of entries of all importers, CBP intends to fully comply with the court\u2019s final decision as expeditiously as possible,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n At issue is the agency’s detailed and deadline-driven process for reviewing and clearing customs declarations on new imports. <\/p>\n