CAPE Portal Opens; $166B IEEPA Tariff Refund Program Launches Amid Day-One System Crashes

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) activated the CAPE (Customs Automated Protest and Entry) functionality within the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) at 8am EST on April 20, 2026 — Phase 1 of the $166 billion IEEPA tariff refund program following the Supreme Court's February 20 ruling that IEEPA does not authorize tariffs. The system immediately experienced severe high-volume outages on launch day; many importers received errors stating 'The system is currently experiencing high volume, please try again later.' Learning Resources CEO Rick Woldenberg reported being unable to file initial claims. Phase 1 covers unliquidated entries and entries within 80 days of liquidation; valid refunds are expected to be issued within 60-90 days of acceptance. Over 56,000 importers had completed pre-filing steps across approximately 53 million eligible shipments. The total refund liability of ~$166 billion is equivalent to roughly 6.4% of annual US federal revenues — one of the largest customs refund events in US history. Section 122 tariffs (8.9% overall effective rate; 31.6% on China) imposed February 24, 2026 remain fully in effect and are subject to ongoing Court of International Trade litigation. Penn Wharton (April 15) estimated the refund flow would inject significant liquidity into import-intensive sectors over the next 60-90 days.