Canada's top diplomat in Detroit, Consul General Joe Comartin, said the Canadians used to get assurances, whether from politicians or the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, that the tariffs on its steel and aluminum exports were going to come off soon. "We're not even getting those assurances anymore," he told International Trade Today March 27 in an interview. "We're just not seeing any movement on this side on the tariffs."
An appeal of the Court of International Trade’s recent decision finding Section 232 duties constitutional will be filed at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to avoid any distraction caused by the government’s likely opposition to a direct appeal to the Supreme Court, said Alan Morrison, a George Washington University law professor and the American Institute for International Steel’s lead counsel in the case. A three-judge CIT panel on March 25 ruled against the trade group and a pair of steel importers in their challenge to the Section 232 tariffs imposed in 2018 on iron and steel, finding itself bound by four-decade-old precedent that held Section 232 duties are not an excessive delegation of power (see 1903250032). “We think that a direct appeal to the Supreme Court is possible, but it would [be] opposed by the Government and therefore be a distraction,” Morrison said. The AIIS initially requested the three-judge panel because it would allow a direct Supreme Court appeal (see 1806270036).
The U.S. should keep in place the Section 232 tariffs on aluminum and steel from both Mexico and Canada even if it impedes movement on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the American Line Pipe Producers Association said in a news release. The group, a coalition of large-diameter welded pipe (LDWP) producers, took issue with recent United Steelworkers calls for the removal of the tariffs before any USMCA ratification (see 1903250035). "While ALPPA supports the USMCA, it strongly rejects that USMCA should be tied to removal of Section 232 tariffs, particularly given the trade-distortive practices of Canada and Mexico," the group said.
The American Institute for International Steel will appeal a March 25 Court of International Trade decision that found Section 232 tariffs on iron and steel products to be constitutional and left them in place, a lawyer representing the trade group said in an email. In that decision, CIT had found itself bound by precedent and unable to overturn the tariffs, despite some concerns over whether they violate the separation of powers principle of the Constitution.
The Court of International Trade on March 25 denied a bid to declare Section 232 tariffs unconstitutional in a lawsuit brought by the American Institute of International Steel and other steel importers. A 1976 Supreme Court decision had found Section 232 to be a permissible delegation by Congress of its tariffs-setting powers to the president, and while the three judge CIT panel expressed some concerns, they were “beyond this court’s power to address, given the Supreme Court’s decision,” CIT said. Judge Gary Katzmann penned a separate “dubitante” – a step below a dissent -- noting that, while he agreed that the trade court could not deviate from the Supreme Court’s ruling, he had “grave doubts” about its real world implications.
A dozen senators, led by Sens. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., Doug Jones, D-Ala., and Angus King, I-Maine, have asked Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to respond by early next month to follow-up questions they had after a staff briefing on the Section 232 auto report that has remained secret since it was given to President Donald Trump last month.
President Donald Trump said European officials have offered to drop their 10 percent tariffs on cars if the U.S. drops its 2.5 percent tariffs on cars and its 25 percent tariffs on light trucks. But he declined the offer. "I wouldn't do that deal," he said. "I would do it for certain products, not for cars." He said it's not a good deal because "a Chevrolet will never sell like a Mercedes does here."
As the Senate Finance Committee works to find middle ground between a proposal that would give Congress the opportunity to rescind the steel and aluminum tariffs and stop any future Section 232 tariffs, and one that would require veto-proof majorities to stop future 232 tariffs, conservative groups, farmers and metals manufacturing companies are weighing in on the future bill. In a letter, sent March 18 and led by Americans for Prosperity, the signers say that the change should give Congress the ability to stop future tariffs before they're implemented -- echoing the approach of Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., in a bill he reintroduced in January this year (see 1901310029). The groups also say the committee should consider including a way for Congress to deal with the current Section 232 tariffs -- they described this as "transition rules" to provide lawmakers a path for "consideration of tariffs that have been unilaterally imposed prior to enactment of the legislation."
In a brief round of questions before boarding a helicopter March 20, President Donald Trump said the Commerce Department's Section 232 report on auto imports had no recommendation. It's possible he misunderstood the question and instead was describing his own position, which is yet to be determined. "It's up for review, and the European Union has been very tough on the United States for many years but nobody talked about it. And so we're looking at something to combat it," he told reporters. When a second reporter asked him if he was leaning toward tariffs on European cars, he said, "We'll see whether or not they negotiate a deal. If they negotiate a deal, a fair deal, that's a different story."
A Democrat and a Republican from two major auto-manufacturing states introduced a bill in the House of Representatives that would delay any tariffs on autos or auto parts until the International Trade Commission completes a study of the impact they would have on the American auto industry. The ITC would analyze the number of auto components that are not produced in the U.S., the effect that an increase in auto manufacturing costs would have on jobs, as well as the regional effects of auto plants on wages, job growth, per capita income, unemployment and education. The bill, H.R. 1710, was introduced by Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., and Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., on March 13. Sewell, who said there are 40,000 autoworkers in her state, said, “This administration has overreached its Section 232 authority by claiming that cars and auto parts threaten American national security. An independent study by the ITC would ensure that U.S. trade policy takes into consideration its impacts on our American workers and consumers."