Commerce Department Solicits Suggestions on Section 232 Exclusion Process
After years of complaints about the exclusion process for steel and aluminum tariffs, the Commerce Department is soliciting comments about how to improve it. Comments should include input on what should be on the request, objection and rebuttal forms; who should be allowed to request or object; the information published with the decisions and the factors for making a decision; how granular the product descriptions have to be; and whether there should be exclusions for downstream products.
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Comments are due July 10.
Commerce listed specific ideas for changing the forms, some of which were proposed by Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., such as requiring objectors to submit evidence they can manufacture at the scales requested, and that the metal can be delivered as quickly as an import would arrive. Other changes were proposed by trade groups that produce metal, such as requiring requestors to show the volume of exclusion they're requesting is needed, through domestic companies' refusals and through a ratified sales contract with foreign producers, or limiting the volume of excluded imports based on reasonable growth over past imports.
They're also asking parties whether there should be blanket one-year approvals of requests with no objections and whether there should no ability to re-request for a year after a denial due to objections.
Walorski said, “After hearing from countless manufacturers in my district and across the country, I’ve been pressing the Commerce Department for more than two years to make its steel and aluminum exclusion process more transparent, consistent, and fair,” and said she hopes the Commerce Department takes comments to heart, in addition to conclusions of the inspector general and the Government Accountability Office. “I look forward to submitting my own comments and continuing to fight for fairness in the exclusion process,” she said.
(Federal Register 05/26/20)