U.S. court upholds Trump's national security tariffs on steel imports (updated)

Avante

04/02/2021 20:51

(Adds details on court ruling, comments from steel industry
group)
    By David Lawder
    WASHINGTON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. Court of
International Trade upheld former President Donald Trump's
"Section 232" U.S. national security tariffs on steel imports on
Thursday, denying a steel importer's challenge to the duties.
    A three judge panel at the New York-based federal court, 
which hears challenges to trade actions under U.S. laws, found
that the Commerce Department and Trump properly applied a Cold
War-era trade law in imposing the tariffs.
    Trump imposed 25% tariffs on imported steel and 10% on
imported aluminum from most countries in 2018, arguing that
these protections were necessary for U.S. national security to
maintain healthy domestic production.
    He invoked Section 232 of the Trade Act of 1962, which
allows the president to restrict imports of goods critical to
national security.
    Universal Steel Products Inc, a New Jersey steel importer,
had argued before the court that the legal process used to
imposed the tariffs was "procedurally deficient" and did not
specify an expiration date, there was no "impending threat" to
U.S. national security and Trump exceeded his discretionary
authority in applying the tariffs to steel and aluminum, which
are commodity products.
    The panel of judges disagreed, writing https://www.cit.uscourts.gov/sites/cit/files/21-12.pdf
 that Section 232 "grants the president latitude in evaluating
whether imports threaten the national security. The statutory
language makes clear that the list of factors to be considered
in determining whether a threat exists is nonexclusive."
    The American Iron and Steel Institute, which represents
steelmakers, industry groups welcomed the decision. It urged
current U.S. President Joe Biden to maintain them to protect the
industry from a flood of excess global production, largely
centered in China, that has only grown since the tariffs were
first imposed.
    "President Biden has acknowledged importance of addressing
global overcapacity and I think he understands that these
tariffs are important for national security," said Kevin
Dempsey, AISI president.
    Biden signaled that he is likely to keep the tariffs in
place on Monday, when he reversed a tariff exemption on aluminum
imports from the United Arab Emirates that had been granted by
Trump on his last day in office. 
    Maintaining tariffs on UAE aluminum is "necessary and
appropriate in light of our national security interests" Biden
said in a proclamation.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2K803L     

 (Reporting by David Lawder, additional reporting by Andrea
Shalal
Editing by Marguerita Choy
Editing by Chris Reese)
 ((David.Lawder@tr.com; +1 202 354 5854; Reuters Messaging:
david.lawder.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))