Companies encounter technical difficultieslogging onto new portal for $166B in tariff refunds
The Trump administration on Monday launched an online portal that allows US businesses to file claims for tariff refunds — but the website was overwhelmed by the sheer number of applications, sources told The Post.US Customs and Border Protection unveiled the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries, or “CAPE,” system on Monday, part of the feds’ efforts to comply with the historic Supreme Court order striking down the levies.The portal was meant to enable importers to file bulk refund claims tied to tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, which the highest court in the land ruled unconstitutional in February.However, the process of registering for refunds was touch and go through Monday afternoon as importers tried to claim their chunk of roughly $166 billion in tariff payments.Echelon — a Chattanooga, Tenn.-based company that makes exercise bikes and other pricey equipment in Asia, then imports it to the States — unsuccessfully tried logging onto the new portal multiple times Monday, the company’s chief executive Lou Lentine told The Post.It encountered a message stating: “Cape Processing is currently experiencing high volumes.
If you received an error, please try again in 30 minutes.”Still, Echelon hopes to get back “a handsome sum that will definitely be helpful,” Lentine said, though he declined to specify how much his company had paid in tariffs.“We will reinvest [the money] into the business,” he added.CBP and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the portal outages.“It’s been on and off all day,” said Sara Albrecht of the Liberty Justice Center, the nonprofit that filed the suit leading the Supreme Court to strike down the core of Trump’s tariff policy.“The demand and the crash were both pretty unsurprising,” she added.February’s Supreme Court ruling did not directly address the matter of refunds.The Trump administration has sig...