TariffsGPT · Glossary

The tariff terms, in plain English.

Every term TariffsGPT uses, defined for an importer — not a customs broker. Updated May 2026.

The Ruling & Refund

What the Supreme Court decided and what it means for your money.

International Emergency Economic Powers ActIEEPA: The 1977 law the President used to impose extra tariffs in 2025. The Supreme Court ruled those particular tariffs went beyond what the law allows.; IEEPA lets the President regulate commerce during a declared national emergency. The 2025 tariffs invoked it to add ad valorem (percentage-of-value) duties on imports from many countries. On Feb 20, 2026, in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, the Supreme Court held these duties were not authorized by IEEPA.
Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump: The Supreme Court case, decided Feb 20, 2026, that struck down the IEEPA tariffs. It's why refunds are now on the table.; The Court of International Trade ordered refunds of approximately $165 billion in unlawfully collected duties. CBP is building the mechanism to process them.
Executive Order 14389EO 14389: 'Ending Certain Tariff Actions' — issued the same day as the ruling (Feb 20, 2026). It stopped IEEPA duties from being collected going forward.; Critical asymmetry: the IEEPA codes are still listed in the published HTS, but the duties are no longer collected as of this order. A code being present in the schedule does not mean the duty is live. Whether a past entry is refundable depends on its entry date against this timeline.

The different tariff programs — and which ones were struck down.

Section 301 Tariffs301: Tariffs on Chinese goods, separate from IEEPA. These were NOT struck down and generally still apply.; Authorized under the Trade Act of 1974 to respond to unfair trade practices. Lists 1–4A cover roughly $370B in trade at 7.5–25%. Coded under HTS 9903.88.*. If you imported from China, only the IEEPA portion of your duties is likely refundable, not the 301 portion.
Section 232 Tariffs232: National-security tariffs on steel, aluminum, and a few other goods. Also separate from IEEPA, and still in force.; Authorized under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. Coded under HTS 9903.80–9903.85. Not part of the refund.

How tariffs are coded against the goods you import.

Harmonized Tariff ScheduleHTS: The official U.S. list of every import code and its duty rate. Maintained by the USITC.; Tariff overlays like IEEPA, 301, and 232 are coded under Chapter 99. The IEEPA codes live under headings 9903.01.* and 9903.02.*. The chat assistant looks these up live from the official USITC schedule.
HTS Chapter 99: The part of the tariff schedule that holds temporary tariff overlays — including the IEEPA duties at issue.; Example codes: 9903.01.25 (reciprocal tariff, all countries, +10%), 9903.01.26 (Canada IEEPA, +25%), 9903.01.27 (Mexico IEEPA, +25%).

How a refund is actually claimed, and the deadlines that matter.

Post Summary CorrectionPSC: The main way to fix a customs entry after the fact — and the channel used to claim an IEEPA refund.; A PSC can be filed on an unliquidated entry within 300 days of the date of entry, or up to 15 days before the scheduled liquidation date. This is why entry dates and deadlines matter.
CBP Form 7501 (Entry Summary)7501: The customs document that records what you imported and the duties you paid. Your refund is filed against these.; Pulled from your ACE Portal export. Only the importer of record can access their own entry data — there's no public download, which is why a refund claim works from your own records.
Duty Drawback: A separate refund program: if you re-exported goods, you can recover up to 99% of the duties paid on them.

Where TariffsGPT's numbers come from.

U.S. International Trade CommissionUSITC: The agency that publishes the official tariff schedule. TariffsGPT reads HTS codes directly from its free public API.