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US Judge to Meet Parties on Trump-Tariff Refunds in Closed-Door 'Settlement Conference' @reuters.com 🍿
• Government says millions of records may need manual review 🙄
• Around 2,000 refund lawsuits filed by US importers 😮
• Conference scheduled for 10:30 a.m. ET
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-judge-meet-parties-trump-tariff-refunds-closed-door-settlement-conference-2026-03-06/

Exclusive: US judge to meet parties on Trump-tariff refunds in closed-door 'settlement conference'
A U.S. judge will meet behind closed doors with government lawyers on Friday seeking to hammer out a process to refund up to $175 billion in illegally ​collected tariffs, a meeting a court official de...
www.reuters.com
10:54 AM · Mar 6, 2026

Exclusive: US judge to meet parties on Trump-tariff refunds in closed-door 'settlement conference'

By Tom Hals
March 6, 2026 12:19 AM EST Updated 49 mins ago

Summary
* Government says unable to comply with court order
* Around 2,000 refund lawsuits filed by US importers on illegal tariffs

March 6 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge will meet behind closed doors with government lawyers on Friday seeking to hammer out a process to refund up to $166 billion in illegally ​collected tariffs, a meeting a court official described as a "settlement conference."

Judge Richard Eaton of the U.S. Court of International Trade will meet with lawyers representing ‌the customs agency responsible for reimbursing more than 300,000 importers that paid the tariffs, which were struck down last month as unconstitutional.

Just as the meeting was scheduled to start, a top customs official informed the court that his agency was unable to comply with the judge's directive earlier this week to use its existing system to generate automatic tariff refunds. Businesses have raised concerns about what they expect to be a months- or ​years-long process to get refunds.

U.S. courts are presumed to be open to the public, although judges will sometimes hold private meetings with parties to discuss scheduling or ​how to handle sensitive information.

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Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Dan Burns, William Mallard and David Gaffen