American importers are one step closer to automatically receiving the full $166 billion in tariff refunds after class counsel asked the U.S. Court of International Trade on Tuesday to enter a universal relief order against the Trump administration.

The motion, filed in the class action Freestyle World, Inc. v. United States, would return money collected under the disputed IEEPA tariffs to more than 330,000 importers of record — whether or not they filed individual lawsuits. The administration wants only importers who sued to get paid.

What does the proposed order actually do?

It hands the refunding agency the legal authority it claims it lacks. Class counsel co-leads Lawrence Friedman of Barnes, Richardson & Colburn, and Elizabeth Cabraser and Nicholas Diamand of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, told Fortune in a statement:

"The proposed order would give the agency the authority it says it needs to provide full refunds with interest to all class members, including the tens of thousands of small businesses who lack the resources to bring their own cases."

They added: "We will continue working closely with the Court and the government to make sure all importers who paid these unlawful tariffs receive the refunds they are owed as quickly as possible."

The case was certified as a class action on Oct. 8 and is being heard in the Court of International Trade, the specialized federal court for trade disputes. The Department of Justice has until Nov. 13 to answer the complaint and until Dec. 9 to respond to the relief motion. It did not respond to Fortune's request for comment.

Why haven't refunds gone out already?

The Supreme Court ruled in February that tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act exceeded the president's powers, opening the door to hundreds of billions in refunds. More than $115 billion had been disbursed as of August through Customs and Border Protection's CAPE system (Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries, the agency's mechanism for reprocessing tariffed entries).

But thousands of importers are still waiting. The reasons are mundane but stubborn:

• Technical errors in CAPE submissions
• Missing or inappropriate paperwork
• Lack of legal resources compared with large importers
• Purchases routed through a third-party importer of record, including individuals who bought tariffed goods online

The class action exists precisely for these companies. It offers a refund pathway without filing an individual suit, something thousands of firms have already done.

The stakes run beyond corporate balance sheets. Tariffs became a flashpoint in the affordability crisis that cost Republicans in the midterm elections. Refunds would relieve companies that raised prices to offset inflation from the import taxes and the Iran war — and raise the odds that consumers see money back through payments from those companies.

How is the administration fighting back?

Judge Richard Eaton of the Court of International Trade, who presides over all tariff refund cases, has backed universal rebates repeatedly. In March he ruled that every importer who paid IEEPA tariffs was entitled to a refund, and he issued a universal refund order in April. Because he hears every case, Eaton signaled he'll keep ruling the same way.

The administration appealed in June, arguing Eaton exceeded his authority and that the government cannot refund importers who never sued. "CBP has no authority to reliquidate or refund money without a court order," the Justice Department said in its filing.

President Trump has a track record against universal remedies. Last June his administration won at the Supreme Court, which narrowed a universal injunction that had blocked his birthright citizenship executive order, requiring future orders to apply only to a specific lawsuit's plaintiff. Eaton counters that those limits don't bind his court, because the Court of International Trade holds exclusive jurisdiction over trade issues and doesn't operate like a typical district court.

Could the midterms shift the fight?

Possibly. Newly emboldened Democratic legislators may gain leverage to pressure CBP into faster disbursement. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote to the agency in June demanding it speed up refund processing.

"After the Supreme Court ruled President Trump's tariffs were illegal, the Administration should have done everything in its power to quickly return that money to the Americans who paid it."

"Instead, it has slow-walked the refund process while searching for new ways to keep money that never belonged to the government in the first place," Warren wrote.

Democrats also plan legislative repeals of specific tariffs, starting with Canada. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), likely the next head of the Senate Finance Committee, is leading that effort. "Every day Trump insists on his indiscriminate taxes on so many of the products Americans need, he digs a deeper hole for Republicans enabling his tariff spree," Wyden told CNBC after the election.

For now, the timeline runs through the courts: DOJ's Dec. 9 response, then Eaton's ruling on a motion that could decide whether $166 billion flows to all 330,000 importers — or only to those who sued.