US steel importers challenge president’s authority to impose tariffs News
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US steel importers challenge president’s authority to impose tariffs

US steel importers on Monday filed their reply brief in USP Holdings v. United States, a case in the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit challenging the president’s authority to impose tariffs for national security reasons. The importers included USP Holdings, Inc., PSK Steel Corporation, Dayton Parts, LLC, Borusan Mannesmann Pipe US Inc. and Jordan International Company.

The steel importers are appealing from their loss before the Court of International Trade, a specialized trial court, which found that the government has broad authority to impose tariffs under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.

Section 232 tariffs are imposed by the president through the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) when the import of a product represents a national security threat. In 2018, former President Donald Trump’s administration found the import of steel to constitute a national security threat and imposed a 25 percent tariff on such imports.

The steel importers challenged the Section 232 steel tariffs on the basis that the BIS report did not find a specific threat that needed to be remedied with a tariff. Section 232 requires the government to find an immanent threat of a specific duration, however, the BIS report merely stated that there was a continuing threat. The Court of International Trade found that former President Trump’s use of Section 232 was consistent with past practice during the Cold War and President Biden’s administration is continuing to defend the tariffs in court.

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