The USCIT Dumps Trump ’s Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum Derivatives, but There’s Still Plenty of Work to Be Done

Inu Manak andScott LincicomeA new federal court ruling has invalidated some of President Trump ’s “national security” tariffs, and in the process addressed one problematic procedural aspect of one of the worst U.S. trade laws on the books. Congressional action is still needed, however, to fix the statute’s many other problems.This week, the U.S. Court of International Traderuled against the Trump administration ’s January 2020 action (Proclamation 9980) to expand tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum, implemented pursuant to Section 232 of the of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, to “derivative” (downstream) products like nails and car fenders. As we discussed in a recentpolicy analysis, Section 232 allows the president to “adjust” imports that “threaten to impair the national security,” but the statute suffers from numerous procedural and substantive flaws – errors that allow the executive branch to declare imports ofalmost anything a  threatand cut procedural corners in restricting those imports.The new USCIT case, brought by PrimeSource Building Products, Inc., addresses one of those corners, which we discussed in our paper:After the tariffs went into effect, an importer of Turkish steel sued the Trump administration in the USCIT, arguing (among other claims) that the president cut corners in the procedures required by law. In November 2019, a  unanimous three‐ judge panel agreed that “the President’s expansive view of his power under ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs