Although the EU ambassador emphasized all the ways that the EU and the U.S. coordinate on trade, a panelist discussing the future of the U.S.-EU trade relationship demonstrated the ways the two economic powers talk past each other at times.
The Court of International Trade in a decision made public Oct. 23 sustained the Commerce Department's rejection of eight Section 232 steel tariff exclusion requests from importer Seneca Foods Corp. on its tin mill product entries. Judge Gary Katzmann said the rejections were backed by substantial evidence and in line with agency practice.
Domestic steel producer Zekelman Industries filed a lawsuit on Oct. 21 in a Washington, D.C., federal court alleging that the Mexican government breached its 2019 agreement with the U.S. to slow imports of Mexican steel products. The company argued that Mexico's breach of the deal "has devastated the U.S. steel industry," forcing the company to close two plants due to the oversupply of cheap steel (Zekelman Industries v. United States, D.D.C. # 24-02992).
The Aluminum Association is pleased by the hike in Section 301 tariffs on aluminum products -- even though it applies to more products than it wishes were covered -- and says Mexico's reporting is helping with trade remedies covering Chinese, Russian and Belarussian steel.
A hearing about the Time to Choose Act, a bipartisan bill that would ban consultants and other service providers from working both with the U.S. government and Chinese-owned companies, Senate Homeland Security Committee ranking member Rand Paul, R-Ky., said he agreed with a witness who said it could create a slippery slope.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Aug. 5-11:
Dan Ujczo, senior counsel in Thompson Hine's trade practice, said he expects a second Biden or Trump administration to say it won't authorize USMCA to continue for another 16 years in 2026, when the trade pact is up for review.
Brazil, the largest exporter of semifinished steel to Mexico after the U.S., won't be subject to the melted and poured restriction the two countries recently announced, the Mexican government disclosed last week. Aluminum cast in Brazil and steel melted and poured there won't be subject to Section 232 tariffs if they are processed in Mexico and exported to the U.S.
CBP created Harmonized System Update 2410 on July 11, containing 52 Automated Broker Interface (ABI) records and 15 Harmonized Tariff Schedule records. The update includes the "latest Section 232 Mexico Aluminum and Steel updates and adjustments required by the verification of the 2024 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS)."
Tariff carve-outs for Mexican steel and aluminum in the Section 232 action will be curtailed, so that only steel that is melted and poured in North America can qualify, and so that aluminum that was smelted or cast in China, Russia, Belarus but worked again in Mexico will be taxed at higher rates.