Following the landmark Supreme Court decision striking down most of President Donald Trump’s global tariffs, retailers are urging the administration to quickly move forward with refunding the billions of dollars they paid in unlawfully collected duties.

And a law firm representing hundreds of importers who together paid over $1 billion in tariffs under Trump’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) says its clients are being approached with offers to buy their refund rights. That means that the buyers, mostly litigation brokers, would accept the risks and delays associated with receiving these from the government in exchange for the full payout once this goes out.

Reflecting what he sees as a growing likelihood that the refunds will eventually be issued, trade attorney Greg Husisian, partner at the firm Foley & Lardner, told Newsweek that these offers are becoming increasingly attractive, rising from around 20 cents on the dollar to now upward of 60 percent of face value.

Why It Matters

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Brandon Lord, in a recent declaration submitted to the U.S. Court of International Trade, said “approximately $166 billion” in IEEPA tariff payments is owed to around 330,000 importers.

And while the federal government has acknowledged its duty to refund the now-defunct duties, it has said that repaying billions of dollars will be arduous, and Trump has said that litigating the matter could take years.

What To Know

Trade associations have called on the government to issue refunds as quickly as possible, noting that businesses—in particular, smaller ones—will struggle without the funds they are owed.

And last week, the Court of International Trade ordered the CBP to immediately begin doing so, but paused this directive days later after the agency said it lacked the staffing and systems capacity to handle the task.

In a declaration submitted to the court, Lord said processing refunds for the 53.2 million IEEPA duties paid would require 4.4 million man-hours to complete manually, and requested a 45-day delay to implement its new automatic system needed to comply with the order.

And for the thousands of businesses that have filed suit to recoup their duties, the ability to sell their “refund rights” may be increasingly appealing.

Husisian said he was receiving “hundreds of emails” each day with such offers. In those seen by Newsweek, potential buyers emphasized that the refund process would be drawn out and that selling claims for liquidity may be the most sensible option for out-of-pocket importers.

“Some might be looking at this and saying, ‘You know, it looks good, but there’s some chance they won’t be paid. Or, you know, President Trump was saying that we’re going to have two or five years of litigation, and I can’t wait that long. Or the tariffs put us in a bad cash‑flow position, and so if I can get some money now, that would be extremely helpful,’” Husisian said. “And some companies, from what I’ve heard, are hedging their bets and maybe selling part of their refunds, but keeping another piece so they can participate partially in the upside.”

Husisian said that many of Foley & Lardner’s smaller clients cannot wait the months or years it takes for the CBP to issue the rebates and are therefore more likely to be open to the offers. However, bigger companies—with commensurately larger claims—can likely “weather this out” and hang on for the full refund.

What People Are Saying

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in its declaration to the U.S. Court of International Trade last week: “CBP is now facing an unprecedented volume of refunds. Its existing administrative procedures and technology are not well suited to a task of this scale and will require manual work that will prevent personnel from fully carrying out the agency’s trade enforcement mission. Personnel would be redirected from responsibilities that serve to mitigate imminent threats to national security and economic security.”

Greg Husisian, partner at Foley & Lardner, told Newsweek: “There’s this huge pot of gold out there. It now appears to be pretty certain that the refunds are going to happen. It’s just a matter of when and what the mechanism will be.”

What Happens Next

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling, the Trump administration has imposed 10 percent tariffs on imports under Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act, but can rely on this measure only for 150 days.

This week, the administration opened unfair-trading investigations into dozens of countries under Section 301 of the Trade Act, paving the way for higher duties on those whose practices are found to be “unreasonable or discriminatory” and which “burden or restrict U.S. commerce.”