The Commerce Department is allowing more time for comments on its new Section 232 investigation into transformer parts made from electrical steel, it said in a notice. Comments are now due July 3, and rebuttal comments are due July 24. The investigation (see 2005040059) follows years of complaints that companies could avoid 25% tariffs on electrical steel by buying assemblies of that kind of steel.
Rep. Suzan DelBene, a House Ways and Means Committee member who also leads on trade in the New Democrats, said she's worried that the participation of “so many countries” at the World Trade Organization in e-commerce talks -- including China -- will mean that the result will not be a high-standard agreement.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of June 1-7:
Aluminum waste recovered from a manufacturing process in a foreign-trade zone is not subject to Section 232 tariffs or to antidumping and countervailing duties upon entry, CBP said in a May 8 ruling. Shannon Fura, a lawyer with Page Fura, sought CBP's ruling on behalf of the U.S. Granules Corp. (USGC). The company buys aluminum scrap and waste from suppliers that generate recoverable aluminum from manufacturing operations within an FTZ, it said.
The Aluminum Extruders Council pointed to the closure of Alcoa's Intalco Works in Ferndale, Washington, as proof that Section 232 is not helping the aluminum industry, and said that since there is no longer a source of domestic billets west of the Mississippi River, they have to import. But both domestic and foreign supply of aluminum billets is more expensive than it would be in other countries, so domestic extruders are at a price disadvantage. Exporters circumvent Section 232 -- which covers aluminum extrusions -- by doing further fabricating of the extrusions and classifying them under a subheading not covered in Section 232, the group said. “The truth is, no one is going to build primary aluminum production in the U.S. with or without the 232,” the group said in a June 9 press release. “It is time for the Administration to re-examine its policy in this area. We applaud their goal. We really do. However, the path they have taken has been proven to be ineffective, and ultimately counterproductive.”
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for June 1-5 in case they were missed.
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated on June 4. The following headquarters rulings were modified recently, according to CBP:
Rep. Ron Kind, one of the leading pro-trade voices in the Democratic caucus, told the Washington International Trade Association that Trade Promotion Authority will not get a renewal vote this year. The legislation, which allows fast-track approval of trade agreements, is good through June 30, 2021. “That might be a reach too far, here in this election cycle,” he said in an online interview with WITA on June 3. “I think we’ll have to wait and see how the dust settles in November.”
The Court of International Trade on June 2 denied a bid by two nail importers for a preliminary injunction barring the government from collecting Section 232 tariffs on their steel “derivatives” imports. J. Conrad and Metropolitan Staple did not show they would be irreparably harmed if tariff collections proceed, so they didn’t meet at least one of four factors required for the court to issue a preliminary injunction, CIT said.
The Commerce Department is launching a new Section 232 investigation that could lead to tariffs or other restrictions on imports of vanadium, according to a June 2 press release. The agency will determine “whether the present quantities or circumstances of vanadium imports into the United States threaten to impair the national security,” it said.