Washington state's senators and Rep. Suzan DelBene and Rep. Rick Larsen, both New Democrats, asked President Donald Trump to fix the Section 232 exclusion system, blaming it for 700 layoffs in Ferndale, Washington, at an Alcoa plant. They said in a letter, released May 1, “It is evident that your Administration’s approach to Chinese overcapacity so far has not had its intended effect, and we urge you to prioritize resolving this issue.” They pointed to The Aluminum Association's April 22 letter (see 2004240036) to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross as a guide to follow. They also complained that the trade deal with China does nothing to address overcapacity and state-owned enterprises.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of April 20-26:
The Commerce Department is proposing new regulations that would create an Aluminum Import Monitoring and Analysis System. Similar to the Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis System in place since 2005, the new scheme would require importers of aluminum or their customs brokers to submit information in an online portal to obtain an automatically issued license, then submit the license number with entry summary documentation. Comments are due May 29.
Aluminum producers are telling the Commerce Department that imports are rising, not falling, as the scope of Section 232 exclusions is so large, it dwarfs traditional import volumes. They said this trend “is a threat to U.S. aluminum producers.” In a letter sent April 22, The Aluminum Association said that during the first few months of 2020, the Commerce Department granted exclusions for aluminum can sheet that is more “than the entire U.S. market consumes in a year and dwarfs historical import trends for that segment.”
A steel and aluminum importer filed a lawsuit April 21 challenging the importer-specific exclusion process for Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum products as unconstitutional. Thyssenkrupp says the exclusions, which, unlike Section 301 exclusions, are only granted to the importer that requested them, violate the “Uniformity Clause” of the Constitution.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for April 13-17 in case they were missed.
Some two years after the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum were issued, CBP realized its “previous guidance wasn't as clear as it could be,” a CBP official said during an April 16 conference call. That's why the agency recently updated its CSMS message on the subject (see 2004130056), he said. CBP expects “this will generate a lot of questions about individual Chapter 98 issues because Chapter 98 is huge,” he said. CBP said individual questions should be sent to the Trade Remedy Branch mailbox, traderemedy@cbp.dhs.gov, and CBP will compile the recurring questions into a Frequently Asked Questions document.
Eighteen Republicans and seven Democrats in the House of Representatives are asking for Section 232 tariffs to apply to lamination and cores of electric steel, saying an increase in imports of those kinds from Mexico and Canada are a sign of “blatant circumvention” of the 25% tariffs on electrical steel, as they say neither Canada nor Mexico produces electrical steel. The April 15 letter, sent to President Donald Trump, was led by Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., Rep. Troy Balderson, R-Ohio, and Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio. AK Steel, which makes electrical steel in Pennsylvania and finishes it in Ohio, has threatened to close those plants because of the competition (see 2003090038). Balderson and Kelly wrote the president on the same issue in early March. Three of the four senators representing those two states asked for these items to be included in March 2018 (see 1803090038).
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of April 6-12:
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters: