The Presidential Proclamation establishing new Section 232 tariffs on finished goods of steel and aluminum and the annexes detailing the covered goods is scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on Jan. 29. The new 10 percent tariffs on aluminum goods and 25 percent tariffs on steel goods are set to take effect on Feb. 8 (see 2001250003).
Section 232 Tariffs
The United States currently maintains a 25% tariff on steel imports and 10% on tariff on aluminum imports under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. In 2018, the Trump administration imposed Section 232 Tariffs on steel and aluminum imports into the United States, citing national security concerns. The U.S. agreed to lift tariffs on Canada and Mexico after the signing of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), and reached deals with the European Union, Japan and other countries to replace the tariffs with quotas for steel and aluminum imports into the U.S.
When the new 25 percent Section 232 tariffs go into effect on finished steel products, approximately $800 million in goods will be affected, according to International Trade Commission data for the last full year of imports. That does not include more than $100 million in imports from South Korea, Mexico and Canada that will be exempt from the new policy.
The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security posted the two annexes from the recently announced expansion of Section 232 tariffs on goods made from steel and aluminum. The annex for aluminum products lists six subheadings covering types of wire and automobile stampings. The annex for the steel products includes four subheadings that cover types of nails, tacks and automobile stampings.
Importers and domestic producers are waiting to find out which steel and aluminum finished products will be hit with 25 percent and 10 percent tariffs, respectively (see 2001250003), because the administration said tariffs on the raw materials that make those products have not benefited domestic producers enough.
Even though steel and aluminum tariffs have been in place since March 2018, the number of exclusion requests continues to grow, according to an updated analysis from the free market-oriented Mercatus Center at George Mason University. The new portal opened June 13, and from that time to Aug. 27, companies filed an average of 4,427 requests a month. Between Aug. 28 and Dec. 6, the monthly average was 7,190. Members of Congress have repeatedly criticized what they see as arbitrary decisions, the fact that each exclusion is limited to the requestor, and the influence of domestic steel and aluminum producers on Commerce decisions (see 1910170066 and 1910300058).
CBP has assessed about $53 billion in duties under the major trade remedies started during the Trump administration as of Jan. 8, according to CBP's trade statistics page. That includes $42.8 billion in duties from the Section 301 tariffs on goods from China, and $177.8 billion in Section 301 tariffs on goods from the EU. CBP also has assessed about $6.6 billion under the Section 232 tariffs on steel and $1.9 billion under tariffs on aluminum. The Section 201 trade remedies on washing machines, washing machine parts and solar cells account for $1.4 billion in assessed tariffs. CBP's statistics account for refunds provided to importers, an agency spokesperson said.
Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro said, after a phone call with President Donald Trump Dec. 20, that Brazil will not face tariffs instead of quotas on its steel exports to the United States. Trump had tweeted in early December that the change would come “immediately,” but no Federal Register notice ever put the tweet into action (see 1912020036). He had said at the time that currency devaluation in Brazil and Argentina was “very unfair” to farmers and manufacturers. Argentina and Brazil have taken commodity market share from the U.S. in China, after China imposed tariffs on U.S. products.
The House Ways and Means Committee, with near-unanimity, recommended the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement go to the floor. A vote on the replacement for NAFTA is expected on Dec. 19. For about three hours, Democrats and Republicans praised the rewrite of North America's free trade pact, though many Republicans complained that it took a year to get the opportunity to vote for it.
Two prominent Republicans questioned the suitability of switching tariffs for quotas because of currency manipulation in Brazil and Argentina, as President Donald Trump said Dec. 2 he is doing. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., the leading critic of Trump's trade policy, issued a statement that night that said, “He is justifying these tariffs by citing Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. This provision is exclusively meant for national security threats. Yet, the President has acknowledged that the real purpose of this action is to combat currency manipulation -- which does not pose a national security threat. Furthermore, even if this action were legitimate, the statutory window for imposing these tariffs has closed. These actions further underscore that Congress should take up my legislation that would reassert congressional authority regarding imposition of national security tariffs.”
President Donald Trump plans to bring back the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum from Brazil and Argentina, he said in a tweet. "Brazil and Argentina have been presiding over a massive devaluation of their currencies. which is not good for our farmers," he said. "Therefore, effective immediately, I will restore the Tariffs on all Steel & Aluminum that is shipped into the U.S. from those countries."