We are in high campaign season. The death of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and the nomination of Judge Amy Covey Barrett of Indiana as her successor, have drained a lot of the oxygen about foreign policy and trade. But those issues will not disappear. In a briefing sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce […]
The Trump administration has received more than 3,300 lawsuits from manufacturers alleging that the most recent rounds of tariffs against China under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 were unlawful and arbitrary. The first two rounds of tariffs covered $50 billion worth of Chinese goods. The third was implemented on $200 billion of […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: For international trade and politics, it’s hard to beat the past week. We saw numerous developments in the trade field—I’ll discuss a few of them: (1) an avalanche of lawsuits challenging the “Section 301” tariffs against $200 billion […]
Importers of steel and aluminum who have been critical of the Commerce Department’s handling of Section 232 exclusion requests have found an ally in the Government Accountability Office. In a report released Tuesday, the GAO called for Commerce to improve and speed up the process it uses to review tariff exclusion requests. The report noted […]
“More than 18 years after it acceded to the WTO, China continues to fail to comply with its WTO obligations,” stated the America Iron and Steel Institute in comments to the U.S. Trade Representative regarding China’s compliance with World Trade Organization rules. In a 44-page letter to the USTR, AISI claims there is overwhelming evidence […]
The U.S. has reversed its position on imposing tariffs on Canadian aluminum imports. The U.S Trade Representative said in a statement on Sept. 15, “After consultations with the Canadian government, the United States has determined that trade in non-alloyed, unwrought aluminum is likely to normalize in the last four months of 2020, with imports declining sharply […]
Iowa farmers are complaining that tariffs are causing opportunists to raise steel prices for materials needed to rebuild following the devastating derecho storm that damaged farms last month. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) penned a letter to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross asking that Section 232 tariffs be […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: New regulations published Sept. 11 in the Federal Register require steel importers to know and reveal the country where steel was “melted and poured” no matter how much the steel was processed thereafter. Steel importers have long been […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: I hope everyone had a restful and safe Labor Day weekend. Mine lasted a bit longer than it might. I’m back in the saddle, observing the international trade scene and also playing a small part in it. Things are, to put […]
The Trump administration has announced a tightening of Brazil’s steel quota that will sharply reduce the tonnage of steel slabs imported into the U.S. for the rest of the year. “In light of recent deterioration in market conditions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic affecting domestic steel producers, the United States has deemed it necessary […]
In response to U.S. complaints of recent surges, Mexico has agreed to strictly monitor exports of standard pipe, mechanical tubing and semifinished products through June 1, 2021. In exchange, the U.S. will maintain Mexico’s exemption from the Section 232 national security tariffs, said U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in a statement on Monday. Section 232 […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: A number of readers have asked for particulars on the recent actions on steel trade between the United States, Brazil and Mexico. The numbers are available in some detail now. I will try to explain these for the […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: Time was we looked with great interest at the deliberations of the party platform committees to see who was the most influential—young vs. old, moderates vs. conservatives vs. progressives, etc. In this year of the pandemic, the entire […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: The nation and the world saw a greater than normal number of presidential announcements in the past week. I debated Philip Bell, the president of the Steel Manufacturers Association, on issues related to Section 232 at the SMU […]
If you have been waiting for a price drop on an imported Korean LG or Samsung washing machine, you may be waiting a bit longer. The U.S. International Trade Commission is considering extending safeguard tariffs and quotas on imports of large residential washers, including those two popular brands. Whirlpool is asking that its foreign competitors continue […]
The Department of Commerce is proposing modifications to antidumping and countervailing duty regulations to make them more efficient and to create new enforcement tools to address circumvention and evasion. In a detailed rule published in the Federal Register, Commerce proposes: The creation of standalone rules governing Commerce’s conduct of circumvention inquiries. The new rules set […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: Section 232 is in the news again this week. First, President Trump issued a new proclamation reimposing 10 percent aluminum tariffs on certain aluminum imports from Canada. Second, there were reports in the media that the president will […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: During the last few weeks, I have focused on issues surrounding the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum. In this column, I come back to antidumping and countervailing duty laws, which affect international trade in steel products […]
A challenge by JSW Steel USA to the U.S. Court of International Trade regarding the denial by Commerce of its slab exclusion requests has prompted CIT to order Commerce to provide further explanation of the steps taken in the denial process. “Remand of all twelve exclusion requests is warranted because Commerce’s denials are devoid of […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: On an earnings call last week, Aditya Mittal, president and CFO of ArcelorMittal, the single largest steel producer in the world, stated that “Section 232 has been successful because it has spurred a lot of investment in the […]
Imports of seamless carbon and alloy steel standard, line and pressure pipe from the Czech Republic, Russia, South Korea and the Ukraine are subject to a new antidumping investigation by the Commerce Department. In addition, a countervailing duty investigation regarding these products has been initiated on imports from Russia and Korea. The petition was filed […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: Readers have asked frequently about the staying power of Section 232 tariffs and quotas on steel and aluminum. There are many ways to look at the question—from the effectiveness of the remedy to change behavior of China and […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: China tariffs first took effect on July 6, 2018. In the two years since then, tariffs were imposed on nearly all U.S. imports from China. Recent developments suggest that changes may be coming—some which may mean fewer tariffs […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: The Trump administration’s trade policies make for interesting reading; but the results of those policies are, if anything, more interesting. Tariffs are the hallmark of the Trump presidency, especially the Section 301 tariffs on China and the Section […]
The Department of Commerce has initiated an investigation to determine if seamless carbon and alloy steel standard, line and pressure pipe from the Czech Republic, Korea, Russia and Ukraine is being sold at less than fair value in the U.S. market and whether such pipe is being subsidized by the governments of Korea and Russia. […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: You may have seen news stories in the last two weeks about U.S. threats to impose tariffs on aluminum imports from Canada and Mexico because of “surging” levels of imports from those countries. Don’t believe everything you read: […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: The World Trade Organization has had a rough couple of years. The United States arranged the destruction of the WTO Appellate Body because the U.S. alleges that the final tribunal of the WTO dispute settlement system has overstepped […]
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the American Institute for International Steel’s Section 232 case, bringing an end to the trade group’s constitutional challenge of the Trump administration’s national security tariffs on steel and aluminum. AIIS regrets the court’s decision, said Richard Chriss, president of the institute, which represents foreign producers, metals importers […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: On Monday, the Supreme Court announced its decision not to take the case of American Institute for International Steel (AIIS) v. United States, a case challenging the constitutionality of Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: A rather eventful week in D.C. has brought to the fore a new proposal from House Democrats to pass an infrastructure bill. Readers will recall “Infrastructure Week” last year, which featured a tense White House meeting that ended […]