Commerce Launches New Section 232 Investigation on Titanium Sponge
The Commerce Department will launch a Section 232 investigation that could result in tariffs, quotas or other import restrictions on titanium sponge, it said in a March 4 press release. Requested by Titanium Metals Corporation (TIMET) in a petition filed in September 2018, the investigation will examine “whether the quantity or circumstances of titanium sponge imports into the United States threaten to impair the national security,” Commerce said.
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“Titanium sponge has uses in a wide range of defense applications, from helicopter blades and tank armor to fighter jet airframes and engines,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement. “The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security will conduct a thorough, fair, and transparent investigation before we make a recommendation to the President,” he said. Titanium sponge is the primary form of titanium metal from which almost all other titanium products are made, the press release said.
Section 232 investigations require the commerce secretary to submit the findings of an investigation to the president within 270 days after they start, though the results could come sooner. At that point, the president will make a final decision on whether titanium sponge imports threaten national security and, if so, whether to impose import restraints. This new Section 232 investigation is the fifth launched by President Donald Trump, including completed investigations on aluminum, steel and auto parts and a pending investigation on uranium.
TIMET had also requested antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on titanium sponge from Japan and Kazakhstan in 2017 (see 1708250022), but those proceedings were ended months later when the International Trade Commission found no “reasonable indication” of injury to U.S. producers (see 1710110054). Overall, imports account for more than 60 percent of U.S. titanium sponge consumption, the Commerce press release said. Currently only one facility in the U.S. has the capacity to process titanium ore into the sponge used in manufacturing, it said.