North Carolina Law Firm Signals Growing Business Demand for IEEPA Tariff Refunds
Ward and Smith, a prominent North Carolina law firm, is actively advising businesses on how to pursue tariff refunds in the wake of the Supreme Court's February 2026 ruling in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, according to Business North Carolina. The firm's public guidance signals that demand for legal counsel on refund claims is growing, particularly among manufacturers, importers, and distributors in the state who absorbed significant costs during the peak years of IEEPA tariff enforcement.
The Ward and Smith commentary underscores a broader pattern emerging across the country: regional law firms are stepping in to help businesses that may lack the in-house trade expertise to navigate the refund process independently. North Carolina's economy, which includes substantial furniture, textiles, and pharmaceutical supply chain activity, means a meaningful pool of potential claimants could be looking at recoverable duties. The firm's outreach suggests that many affected businesses have yet to file claims, whether due to uncertainty about eligibility, the complexity of documentation requirements, or simple unawareness that refunds are available at all.
No specific dollar figures or claim volumes were disclosed in the firm's guidance, but the emphasis on acting promptly points to the importance of understanding any applicable deadlines tied to the refund process. With Customs and Border Protection still working through the procedural framework for processing claims at scale, businesses that delay risk compounding administrative hurdles.
What to Watch: As regional legal activity picks up, attention will turn to whether the federal government issues clearer guidance on claim submission timelines and documentation standards. Businesses in manufacturing-heavy states like North Carolina should monitor any CBP announcements in the coming weeks, and trade attorneys expect additional law firms across the Southeast to publish similar advisories as awareness of refund eligibility continues to spread.
— The Tariff.news desk