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CIT Declares Section 232 Steel Tariffs on “Derivatives” Under Proclamation 9980 Invalid and Contrary to Law

CIT

CIT Declares Section 232 Steel Tariffs on “Derivatives” Under Proclamation 9980 Invalid and Contrary to Law

The U.S. Court of International Trade (“CIT” or “the Court”) ruled in an opinion issued on April 5, 2021, that Proclamation 9980 subjecting steel and aluminum “derivatives” to 25 percent tariffs under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (19 U.S.C. § 1862) is invalid because of a failure to comply with statutory time limits.

The Court concluded that Proclamation 9980, which was issued by President Trump and based on the theory that the President had the power to issue the Proclamation based on earlier findings on different products, was void from the outset because it came too late and had no independent basis. As the CIT states in its opinion regarding the inability to rely on an earlier finding regarding different products: “Because the President issued Proclamation 9980 after the congressionally-delegated authority to adjust imports of the products addressed in that proclamation had expired, Proclamation 9980 was action outside of delegated authority.”

The Court’s order stated that, as a result, Plaintiff PrimeSource Building Products, Inc. is to have all its entries that were affected by Proclamation 9980 refunded, whether they were liquidated or unliquidated. This was a result of the derivatives duties being invalid from the outset. The CIT is now likely to act on the parallel challenges to the Section 232 derivative tariffs and issue similar findings. We expect consultations among the parties and with the Court to proceed soon.

This decision does not affect the original Section 232 tariffs placed on aluminum and steel pursuant to Proclamations 9704 and 9705 effective March 23, 2018. Those Proclamations were upheld by both the CIT and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and were issued in a timely manner.

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Nithya Nagarajan is a Washington-based partner with the law firm Husch Blackwell LLP. She practices in the International Trade & Supply Chain group of the firm’s Technology, Manufacturing & Transportation industry team.

Jeffrey Neeley is a Washington-based partner with the law firm Husch Blackwell LLP. He leads the firm’s International Trade Remedies team.

section 232

Commerce to Investigate Expansion of Section 232 Tariffs on Steel to Include Imports of Electrical Transformer Steel

On Monday May 4, 2020, the Department of Commerce issued a news release announcing the start of a Section 232 investigation on imports of “Laminations and Wound Cores for Incorporation Into Transformers, Electrical Transformers, and Transformer Regulators.” This investigation is effectively an examination of whether or not to expand the current Section 232 tariffs on steel to include these products.

The announcement indicates that imports of the steel incorporated into the specifically identified transformers “are being imported into the United States in such quantities or under such circumstances as to threaten to impair the national security.” According to Commerce, it had received “inquiries and requests from multiple members of Congress as well as industry stakeholders,” to start this investigation. Similar to other 232 investigations, the Bureau of Industry and Security will conduct the investigation and request comments in a Federal Register notice that will likely be published soon.

Quoting Commerce’s press release – “transformers are part of the U.S. energy infrastructure,” and “laminations and cores made of grain-oriented electrical steel are critical transformer components. Electrical steel is necessary for power distribution transformers for all types of energy—including solar, nuclear, wind, coal, and natural gas—across the country. An assured domestic supply of these products enables the United States to respond to large power disruptions affecting civilian populations, critical infrastructure, and U.S. defense industrial production capabilities.” It is also important to note that grain-oriented electrical steel (“GOES”) was subject to antidumping duties and countervailing duty orders for several years but there are no current antidumping and countervailing duty orders on GOES.

Based upon the proposed schedule, the secretary of Commerce will notify the secretary of Defense of the investigation, as required by statute. In addition, it stated that the “Department of Commerce will conduct a thorough, fair, and transparent review to determine the effects on the national security from imports of laminations for stacked cores for incorporation into transformers, stacked and wound cores for incorporation into transformers, electrical transformers, and transformer regulators.”

In January 2020, Commerce expanded the scope of the Section 232 tariffs on Steel and Aluminum to include certain other derivative products on products such as nails and thumbtacks without conducting an investigation such as the one now seemingly being proposed. The trade remedies team at Husch Blackwell LLP represents clients now challenging that expansion in the U.S. Court of International Trade. In initiating this new investigation, it appears that Commerce has recognized that it may be on shaky ground for its earlier expansion of section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum and may be willing to provide a fuller procedure for comments and input from interested parties.

Regardless of the procedures, however, if affected U.S. companies cannot locate the steel they need domestically, and the tariffs make importation of steel to manufacture downstream products, then the only option is to source from other countries. Thus, we expect that numerous companies will file comments on this new round of expansion of national security tariffs.

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Nithya Nagarajan is a Washington-based partner with the law firm Husch Blackwell LLP. She practices in the International Trade & Supply Chain group of the firm’s Technology, Manufacturing & Transportation industry team.

Jeffrey Neeley is a Washington-based partner with the law firm Husch Blackwell LLP. He leads the firm’s International Trade Remedies team.