New Ruling on Section 232 Steel Tariffs
A major component of President Trump’s trade agenda has been imposing tariffs on steel imports under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. Those tariffs have engendered many legal challenges; few have had any success. That changed on July 14, 2020, when a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that President Trump’s Proclamation 9772, which imposed a 50% tariff on certain steel products from the Republic of Turkey under Section 232, is unlawful and void.
Transpacific Steel LLC v. United States, - F. Supp. 3d , 2020 WL 3979838 (CIT July 14, 2020). The ruling emphasizes certain procedural and substantive limits on a President’s powers under Section 232 that will likely limit future actions under Section 232.