Section 232 Investigations

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On April 21, 2020, Thyssenkrupp Materials NA, Inc., and several of its related operating divisions filed a complaint in the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) against the United States alleging that the federal government’s administration of Section 232 aluminum and steel duties is unconstitutional.  Thyssenkrupp is a Michigan-based importer of aluminum and steel products…

PrimeSource Building Products, Inc., a U.S. importer of various steel derivative products, filed an amended complaint in the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) on February 4, 2020, arguing that President Donald Trump’s Proclamation No. 9980 is unlawful and unconstitutional. This proclamation expanded the implementation of steel and aluminum tariffs under Section 232 of the…

On March 5, 2020, Secretary Wilbur Ross testified before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee to discuss President Donald Trump’s fiscal year (FY) 2021 budget request for the Department of Commerce. In laying out the funding requests for each agency within the department, Ross requested $137.7 million for the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) in order…

In a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Federal Circuit),  a three-judge panel has upheld a lower court’s ruling that Congress’s delegation of authority over trade does not violate the Constitution. This ruling is the result of a complaint filed in June 2018 by several steel-related trade groups alleging that…

On February 27, 2020, President Donald Trump issued a Presidential Memorandum declining to impose Section 232 tariffs on imports of titanium sponge. While concurring with the findings of the Department of Commerce’s Section 232 report that imports of titanium sponge threaten to impair national security, the president declined to take action in the form of…

Huttig Building Products, Inc. (Huttig) has become the latest U.S. importer to file a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s recent Section 232 tariffs on certain steel and aluminum derivative products. In a complaint filed at the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT), Huttig argues that the president’s January 24, 2020 Proclamation imposing a 25…

In a February 13, 2020 letter to President Donald Trump, members of the New Democrat Coalition (NDC), a group of Congressional Democrats generally supportive of free trade, demanded that the final Section 232 report on automobiles and auto parts submitted to the president in February 2019 be released. Referencing provisions in the Consolidated Appropriations Act…

PrimeSource Building Products, Inc., a U.S. importer of various steel derivative products, filed a complaint (subsequently amended) in the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) on February 4, 2020, arguing that President Donald Trump’s Proclamation No. 9980 is unlawful and unconstitutional. This proclamation expanded the implementation of steel and aluminum tariffs under Section 232 of…

On January 24, 2020, President Donald Trump issued a Presidential Proclamation directing the Department of Commerce to adjust the tariff rate on imports of derivative steel and aluminum products into the United States. In earlier proclamations (see Trump and Trade Update of March 8, 2018), the president directed Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross to…

In a Memorandum Opinion for the Deputy Counsel to President Donald Trump, the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (DOJ) determined that “the President may direct the Secretary of Commerce not to publish a confidential report to the President under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, notwithstanding a recently enacted statute…