The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Nov. 22-28:
The Bureau of Industry and Security seeks comments by Jan. 21 on its collections of information related to requests for Section 232 steel and aluminum tariff exclusions and objections to them. The agency’s comment request will be followed by submission of the information collections for re-approval by the Office of Management and Budget, and will help BIS “assess the impact of our information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden.”
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Deputy USTR Sarah Bianchi stressed the importance of rapidly resolving trade concerns when they arise through the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, and talked about the president's vision for a new economic framework in the Indo-Pacific when they talked with Korea's trade minister, Yeo Han-koo. They agreed to communicate better to support trade facilitation, and to deal with supply chain challenges, emerging technologies and digital trade. According to the U.S. summary of the visit, Tai talked about the challenge posed by market-distorting excess capacity in steel and aluminum. According to the Korea Herald, quoting the Korean trade ministry, Korea asked for the chance to change the tariff rate quotas it earlier agreed to on steel. "We once again delivered our stance and concerns regarding the Section 232 rules, and demanded that the two sides begin negotiations at an early date," the ministry said in a statement. Tai and Yeo also heard from industry representatives on supply chain resiliency and how to foster more sustainable trade.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo announced that consultations have begun with Japan on Section 232 tariffs on Japanese steel and aluminum. They said that the solutions will be aimed at strengthening "our democratic alliance," and the statement says that Japan and the U.S. share "similar national security interests." Japan, Canada, the European Union and other longtime allies of the U.S. were insulted that the Section 232 tariffs, which purportedly are to protect national security, applied to their countries.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said that the administration is "very supportive" of Leveling the Playing Field Act 2.0, a bipartisan bill from Ohio's senators that would clarify how dumping calculations are made, would provide for expedited successive investigations when there is an import surge from a new country on a product subject to a trade remedy order, and would address extraterritorial subsidies (see 2104160037)
If the demand for steel spikes after the infrastructure investments get underway, there will be room in the tariff rate quota for growth, according to the agreement reached by U.S. and European negotiators. If there is a 6% increase in demand for steel compared with 2021, the TRQ on 54 steel products will increase by 3%. And if there is a 12% increase, it will increase by 6%. But changes smaller than that amount will not result in a change to the 3.3 million metric-ton quota. That quota, which will be administered quarterly, takes effect Jan. 1 (see 2111010029).
The U.S. will administer tariff rate quotas starting Jan. 1 on European steel across 54 product categories, with an annual 3.3 metric ton limit, but the products that are currently covered by Section 232 exclusions won't count against the quotas. Those exclusions will automatically renew through the end of 2023, the Commerce Department announced. For both steel and aluminum, derivative products will no longer be subject to tariffs or quotas.
Correction: Superon Schweisstechnik India LTD. challenged CBP's classification of welding wires as subject to Section 232 tariffs (see 2110270045).
The House Ethics Committee unanimously found that "there is substantial reason to believe" that Rep. Mike Kelly's wife purchased at least $15,000 worth of stock in Cleveland-Cliffs based on non-public information about a Section 232 investigation into the import of laminations for stacked cores for incorporation into transformers, stacked and wound cores for incorporation into transformers, electrical transformers, and transformer regulators. The Kellys live in Butler, Pennsylvania, where about 1,400 people work for the steel company, making electrical steel. The company had repeatedly argued that unless the 25% tariffs on steel were extended to these downstream products, it would have to close the Butler plant.
The Tariff Reform Coalition, which includes trade associations representing major metal consumers such as automakers, boat manufacturers, the beer industry and machinists, as well as exporters hurt by retaliatory tariffs, sent a letter to senators asking them to support the Section 232 tariff reform bill re-introduced this month by Sens. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Mark Warner, D-Va. The Oct. 19 letter, signed by 27 trade groups, said that the bill (see 2110050040) would ensure "that all national interests are taken into account prior to the imposition of tariffs or quotas. These interests were not properly weighed in the case of steel and aluminum and our industries are still reeling from the effects of these tariffs.... Invoking national security as a justification to protect a few industries, to the detriment of countless others, sets a bad example for the rest of the world and opens the door for other countries to take similar actions." They noted that if the bill becomes law, and then if Congress does not approve the steel and aluminum tariffs within 75 days, they would be repealed.