The US Court of International Trade issued a preliminary opinion that limits the president’s ability to alter Section 232 tariffs. In the case of Transpacific Steel LLC vs. the United States, a three-judge panel concluded that the president cannot raise steel tariffs on Turkey outside of the time limits permitted by Section 232 regulations.
After Section 232 tariffs were implemented in March 2018, Donald Trump increased the tariffs to Turkey in August 2018, with tariffs against steel imports doubling to 50 percent (filed as Proclamation 9772). In May 2019, the level was reversed back to 25 percent. Transpacific Steel is seeking a refund on the difference between the 50 percent and 25 percent level for the nine-month period that tariffs were increased, claiming that singling out importers of steel products from Turkey violated the equal protection guarantees under the US Constitution.
Once the Secretary of Commerce submitted the initial Section 232 recommendations in January 2018, the president had 90 days to act and 15 days to implement the tariffs. However, issuing Proclamation 9772 in August was well beyond the deadline, the judges concluded.
The Transpacific Steel case will continue with hearings next month—at this stage, the US government’s petition to dismiss was denied.