The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will grant one-year extensions to eight exclusions from the first list of Section 301 tariffs on China that were due to expire April 18, it said in a pre-publication copy of a notice posted to its website. The exclusions that weren't extended will expire April 18.
Section 232 Tariffs
The United States currently maintains a 25% tariff on steel imports and 10% on tariff on aluminum imports under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. In 2018, the Trump administration imposed Section 232 Tariffs on steel and aluminum imports into the United States, citing national security concerns. The U.S. agreed to lift tariffs on Canada and Mexico after the signing of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), and reached deals with the European Union, Japan and other countries to replace the tariffs with quotas for steel and aluminum imports into the U.S.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of March 30 - April 5:
The Commerce Department issued Federal Register notices on its recently initiated antidumping duty investigations on common alloy aluminum sheet from Bahrain (A-525-001), Brazil (A-351-854), Croatia (A-891-001), Egypt (A-729-803), Germany (A-428-849), Greece (A-484-804), India (A-533-895), Indonesia (A-560-835), Italy (A-475-842), South Korea (A-580-906), Oman (A-523-814), Romania (A-485-809), Serbia (A-801-001), Slovenia (A-856-001), South Africa (A-791-825), Spain (A-469-820), Taiwan (A-583-867) and Turkey (A-489-839), and its recently initiated countervailing duty investigation on Brazil (C-351-855), Turkey (C-489-840), Bahrain (C-525-002) and India (C-533-896).
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of March 23-29:
An importer has filed suit at the Court of International Trade, challenging the now-lifted Section 232 tariffs on aluminum products from Canada and Mexico. Koch Supply & Trading says that President Donald Trump violated the timelines in Section 232 when he imposed the tariffs at the beginning of June 2018 (see 1805310028). Koch also says CBP improperly denied its protest, and that the tariffs are unconstitutional.
The president has the authority to modify Section 232 tariffs after their initial implementation, and acted within that authority when he issued new tariffs on aluminum and steel “derivatives” that took effect in February, the Justice Department said in a brief filed March 20 that seeks dismissal of a lawsuit filed by PrimeSource.
The Court of International Trade will hear the recent series of lawsuits challenging Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum derivatives as a three-judge panel, according to multiple people familiar with the cases. Though the court’s case management system was down as of press time for an IT upgrade, the panel will apparently decide the similar cases filed in recent weeks by PrimeSource, Oman Fasteners, Huttig, Astrotech, Trinity, New Supplies, Aslanbas, J. Conrad, Metropolitan Staple, and 10 companies including SouthernCarlson (see 2003030048).
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of March 2-8:
CBP has assessed about $59 billion in duties under the major trade remedies started during the Trump administration as of March 4, according to CBP's trade statistics page. That includes $47.8 billion in duties from the Section 301 tariffs on goods from China, and $335 million in Section 301 tariffs on goods from the European Union. CBP also has assessed about $6.8 billion under the Section 232 tariffs on steel and $2 billion under tariffs on aluminum. The Section 201 trade remedies on washing machines, washing machine parts and solar cells account for $1.6 billion in assessed tariffs. CBP's statistics account for refunds provided to importers.
Rep. Jackie Walorski, an Indiana Republican who has homed in on Commerce Department oversight on Section 232 exclusions, wrote to the agency March 3 questioning the legality of expanding the enforcement action to steel and aluminum derivative articles. “A sudden announcement on a Friday evening is not befitting such a dramatic paradigm shift from tariffs only on raw materials to now include downstream products as well,” she wrote.