The order, issued by Judge Richard K. Eaton of the United States Court of International Trade, amounted to an early victory for the thousands of businesses that have already sued to recover the taxes they paid, plus interest, now that President Trump’s global tariffs have been struck down. Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that Mr. Trump could not use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, to impose tariffs on U.S. trading partners.

Many trade lawyers said they were still deciphering the scope of the judge’s three-page directive. But they generally agreed that its mandate could prove short lived, with the Trump administration expected to quickly challenge it. Judge Eaton has scheduled a hearing in the case for Friday.

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Judge Eaton appeared to deliver an early warning shot to the Trump administration in one of the lesser-noticed cases. His short order essentially opened with a declaration that “all importers of record” that paid taxes under Mr. Trump’s emergency tariffs were “entitled to the benefit” of the Supreme Court’s decision that those duties were illegal.

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Judge Eaton also ordered the Trump administration to stop calculating importers’ tariff bills based on the emergency duties that have been declared illegal. The government by its own admission has continued to do so as part of the final closeout process for goods brought into the United States over the past year.

Judge Eaton further appeared to apply the same requirement to certain imports that already had their tariff bills finalized in the process known as liquidation, though lawyers disagreed on the scope of what the court had mandated.