Commerce's ITA to Maintain Only 5% of Employees During Shutdown
The Commerce Department released its shutdown contingency plan on Sept. 29, which stated that only 60 out of 1,272 International Trade Association employees are excepted from furlough as "most services and activities" of the agency will cease, though the Bureau of Industry and Security's work on Section 232 investigations will continue.
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That appears to include the agency's work on antidumping duty and countervailing duty proceedings, as has been the case in past shutdowns.
The ITA will continue to provide "sector-, country-, economic-, and trade law-specific expertise" to trade negotiations and policy deliberations in the economic and national security interests of the U.S., the department said. ITA experts may be excepted from furlough "to the extent" that they are requested for "activities deemed necessary for national security" and the ITA's import licensing activities "related to steel and aluminum mill imports" will be excepted "as necessary" to protect the domestic steel and aluminum markets, Commerce said.
ITA staff may be needed for "litigation activities" for antidumping duty and countervailing duty cases and to "meet our international obligations" to the World Trade Organization's dispute settlement system, the department said. It also will meet "deadlines imposed by the Judicial Branch," including the Court of International Trade, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the Supreme Court, saying that "failing to meet court-ordered deadlines" may result in a "loss of opportunity" to defend the agency or contempt findings for failing to comply with court orders. ITA staff may also be recalled "as necessary" to provide "litigation support" for cases that "cannot be suspended," it said.
Commerce said that it will "undertake the necessary work" of addressing the effects on national security of imports investigated under Section 232 "to the extent" that any such investigation is underway or commenced during the shutdown.
The International Trade Commission said in its shutdown plan that it will cease "investigative activities" under sections 332, 337 and 201, as well as antidumping duty and countervailing duty proceedings.