According to a letter sent to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross from Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), companies with operations in the US but headquartered in Japan and China were more likely to have their Section 232 exemption requests granted compared to US-headquartered companies.
Warren’s staff reviewed over 900 decision made during the first 30 days of the exemption process, over 81 percent were filed by companies headquartered offshore or companies with a foreign parent company.
“You appear to be implementing the tariff exemption program in a way that undermines American steel producers - by allowing large tariff-free imports of foreign steel - and harms American-owned steel-dependent companies instead of improving their competitive advantage over companies headquartered in China and other foreign countries,” Warren wrote in the letter.
The Department of Commerce defended the process to media outlets, saying in a statement that the exemption process is “fair and transparent.”
To date, 43,600 exemption requests have been filed, with around 11,300 approvals and over 4,000 denials.