Nine domestic industry groups urged Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on July 18 to persevere with the Trump administration’s Section 232 investigations on steel and aluminum, despite “vague speculation” about trade retaliation. “Global trade has been nonreciprocal, in part, because past administrations have wrongly viewed enforcement of trade rules as protectionism even as other countries made full use of those rules,” the groups said in a July 18 letter (here). The 1994 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade allows countries to protect national security, and the World Trade Organization system prevents any “uncontrollable trade retaliation” for using the provision. There have been no such retaliatory countermeasures leveled against nations that assess trade measures based on national security, the groups wrote.
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President Donald Trump this week said he might level tariffs and quotas on steel imports, apparently referring to the ongoing Commerce Department-led Section 232 investigation on imports of the metal, according to a White House transcript of remarks to reporters aboard Air Force One released July 13. Trump said “there are two ways” to stop dumped steel imports from China and elsewhere. “Maybe I’ll do both,” he said. “They're dumping steel. Not only China, but others. We're like a dumping ground, OK? They're dumping steel and destroying our steel industry; they've been doing it for decades, and I'm stopping it. It'll stop.” Trump said he has been “going a little bit easier” on any trade-related measures against China “because I’d like to have their help.”
Fifteen former chairpersons of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers sent a letter (here) to President Donald Trump on July 12 urging his administration not to impose tariffs on steel pursuant to the ongoing Commerce Department-led Section 232 investigation into steel imports. “Among us are Republicans and Democrats alike, and we have disagreements on a number of policy issues,” they said. “But on some policies there is near universal agreement. One such issue is the harm of imposing tariffs on steel imports.” The former officials cited “media reports” indicating Trump is considering using his Section 232 authority to impose tariffs on steel because of a “putative threat to national security.” Top source steel countries are allies, including Canada, Mexico, South Korea and Brazil, and higher tariffs would likely harm U.S. relations with “these friendly nations,” after Canadian, United Kingdom, EU, German and Dutch officials have already expressed concerns about possible results of the probe, they said.
The American Association of Exporters and Importers (AAEI) and the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) differed on whether import restraints on primary aluminum should be on the table for the Trump administration’s ongoing review of the national security impacts of aluminum imports. The Commerce Department posted comments on the administration's ongoing Section 232 investigation into aluminum imports last week (here). NFTC said that measures limiting importation of primary aluminum would hurt U.S. jobs supported by the aluminum industry and reduce exports of can sheet to Canada and Mexico, assuming primary aluminum costs rise (here).
Congressional Steel Caucus leaders Tim Murphy, R-Pa., and Pete Visclosky, D-Ind., led a letter to President Donald Trump calling for broad and lengthy application of any Section 232 remedies for the steel industry, Murphy’s office announced June 28 (here). Any remedy should also avoid exceptions that could be exploited by foreign producer dumping or duty circumvention, the lawmakers wrote. “The domestic steel industry’s ability to provide material to the military, electrical steel for the grid or drilling equipment for the energy industry may be fatally undermined if foreign countries and producers are allowed to destroy other lines of business that are critical to American steel producers’ economic viability,” Reps. Murphy and Visclosky said. “Taking away one or two legs of a chair makes the entire platform unusable. A remedy must encompass the entirety of the American steel industry in order to safeguard our national security.” The letter was also sent to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Defense Secretary James Mattis. Ross has a self-imposed deadline of June 30 to announce any remedial actions pursuant to his department's ongoing national security investigation into steel imports.
Lawmakers urged U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to streamline customs procedures in the upcoming NAFTA renegotiation during a June 22 hearing at which House Republicans also joined their Democratic colleagues in calling for discretion in the Trump administration’s ongoing Section 232 metals investigations. During a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Trump administration trade policy, Lighthizer said trade facilitation would be part of the negotiations. While acknowledging the possibility for "technical" disagreements on customs provisions, he said he “can’t imagine” that NAFTA parties would differ in "direction” on customs talks. Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, in his opening statement called for updates to NAFTA to reflect “modern realities” of customs barriers, digital commerce, intellectual property and state-owned enterprises, among other areas.
Twelve Democrats from the House and Senate are calling for the Trump administration to give stakeholders the opportunity to provide feedback on the Commerce Department’s ongoing Section 232 investigations on steel and aluminum imports, according to a June 20 letter they sent to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer (here). The lawmakers also requested that the administration fully consult with Congress on its considered approach before a decision is made. “Given the significant implications these proceedings could have for jobs and economic growth across the country, it is particularly essential that the Administration provide full transparency and due process when conducting these investigations,” the lawmakers wrote. “While swift relief is vital, it need not come at the expense of due process.” If the reviews find metal imports endanger U.S. national security, the Trump administration could impose tariffs, quotas or other import restraints.
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The canned food industry on June 12 urged President Donald Trump and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to exclude tinplate steel from tariffs or other restrictions on such imports that could be taken pursuant to Commerce’s ongoing Section 232 steel investigation, the Can Manufacturers Institute said in a press release (here). Almost 20 groups representing the canned food industry asked the administration to exempt tinplate steel because it isn’t used in defense or national security applications. Tariffs or trade barriers would harshly impact those on governmental food assistance and diminish the value of taxpayer-funded federal food assistance programs, the release says. The White House and Commerce didn’t immediately comment. Commerce is expected to finish its Section 232 investigation this month (see 1705240034).