The Section 232 bill that Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is working on that would give Congress a veto on national security tariffs is still moving, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., said at a Washington International Trade Association program June 13. Lankford and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., shared the stage as they talked about trade. Coons, when asked about auto imports as a threat to national security, said, "it's ridiculous."
The International Trade Commission's past finding against domestic industry harm due to titanium sponge imports is immaterial to the question of the possible national security issues under a Section 232 investigation, Timet said in rebuttal comments related to its petition to impose Section 232 import restrictions. Timet said that within the ITC investigation, the commission specifically didn't consider the company's "make or buy" argument that weighs the factors for how a company decides to produce or import downstream titanium mill products. Within the Section 232 analysis, Commerce "is not statutorily barred" from considering Timet's "make or buy" argument, Timet said. The governments of Japan and Kazakhstan were among the previous commenters that objected to Timet's petition (see 1904230050).
The International Trade Commission recently issued Revision 6 to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. Changes include the removal of Turkey from the Generalized System of Preferences program (see 1905170004), including its elimination from the list of GSP countries in General Note 4 and the removal of Turkish goods from the list of country-product pairs ineligible for GSP. The new version also removes Turkey from the lists in U.S. Notes 17 and 18 to Chapter 99 of developing countries exempt from safeguard duties on washing machines and solar cells. These changes took effect May 17. Effective May 20, the tariff schedule is amended to remove additional Section 232 tariffs on steel products from Turkey provided for in U.S. Note 16 to Chapter 99 and in subheading 9903.80.02, so that Turkey is now subject to the 25% tariff applicable to most other countries. Finally, Revision 6 includes changes to reflect the recently announced exemption of Mexico and Canada from Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum (see 1905170044), with modifications to U.S. Note 16 to Chapter 99 and subheadings 9903.80.01 and 9903.85.01 that took effect May 20.
The Commerce Department seemed to hint at the possibility of new Section 232 investigations in its critical minerals strategy report. According to one of the action items, Commerce suggested that the U.S. government "consider whether the circumstances of U.S. reliance on imports of high risk materials merit investigations to determine the effect on U.S. national security." Such an effort is "ongoing" and the Bureau of Industry and Security and the Defense Department are mentioned as handling the item. The report was a result of a 2017 executive order that called for a broad review of the U.S. supply of critical minerals (see 1712260006). "Currently, the United States is heavily dependent on imports of critical minerals, with the U.S. dependent on imports for more than 50 percent of domestic demand for 29 of the 35 minerals named" in an Interior Department report, a June 4 Commerce news release said. "In addition, the United States lacks any domestic production for 14 of the 35 minerals and does not have domestic access to processing and manufacturing capabilities for many of these minerals." Among other action items mentioned are to "use international trade agreements to challenge unlawful or otherwise unfair trading practices of foreign countries, where applicable" and "monitor foreign countries’ barriers to critical mineral-related trade and investment and seek to remove such barriers when they arise."
The New Democrats caucus, which includes the most pro-free-trade members in the party in the House of Representatives, has released a lengthy list of things they want to see in exchange for their votes for the new NAFTA ratification.
Trade groups that represent steel-consuming industries say it's wrong to think that just because there haven't been massive job losses the tariffs aren't economically significant to their members.
The Trump administration, furious that Central American migrant asylum seekers continue to stream to the U.S., says that unless Mexico can "dramatically reduce or eliminate the number of illegal aliens" coming to the U.S., it will levy tariffs on all Mexican imports, starting June 10. The tariff will begin at 5 percent, go to 10 percent on July 1, and then increase by 5 percent each month until it reaches 25 percent on Oct. 1.
The Supreme Court should decline to take up a constitutional challenge of Section 232 tariffs on iron and steel products, the U.S. government said in a brief filed May 28 with the court. “Algonquin,” the 1976 Supreme Court decision upholding Section 232 that the Court of International Trade cited as precedent when it ruled against the challenge (see 1903250032), “was correctly decided, and it is consistent with this Court’s more recent nondelegation precedents,” the government said. “In any event, certiorari before judgment is an exceptional procedure, and petitioners identify no sound reason for this Court to deviate from its usual practice of deferring any review until after the court of appeals has issued its decision,” it said. The American Institute for International Steel, which brought the lawsuit, has appealed directly to the Supreme Court, in a bid to skip the usual route through the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (see 1904160027). The group waived its right to reply to the government’s brief in a May 29 filing.
CBP provided guidance on filing foreign-trade zone entries for goods formerly covered by Section 232 tariffs applied to Mexico and Canada, in a CSMS message dated May 30. Under proclamations issued May 19, goods from Canada and Mexico admitted under privileged foreign status into FTZs that were subject to Section 232 tariffs on aluminum and steel products at the time of admission will not be subject to the duties if entered after the tariffs were lifted, i.e., 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on May 20.
Steel goods from Turkey that were given “privileged foreign status” for a foreign-trade zone while steel goods were subject to 50 percent Section 232 tariffs will only be subject to 25 percent tariffs when entered for consumption, CBP said in an update to its page on the Section 232 tariffs. Such goods that were admitted "prior to 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on May 21, 2019, shall be subject upon entry for consumption on or after such time and date to the additional 25 percent additional ad valorem rate of duty in heading 9903.80.01 in subchapter III of chapter 99 of the [Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States]," CBP said. The Section 232 tariffs on steel from Turkey were reduced to 25 percent on May 21 through a proclamation (see 1905170004) that included the language on FTZs.