Leibowitz on Trade: CIT Ruling on AIIS Suit Not the End of the Story

Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington:

Last June, the American Institute for International Steel and two steel traders filed suit against the United States, arguing that Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (19 U.S.C. § 1962, as amended) was unconstitutional. The plaintiffs asserted that that statute has no “intelligible standards” limiting presidential decision-making and therefore amounted to a wholesale transfer from Congress to the president of legislative authority to set tariffs. On Monday, March 25, the Court (the CIT or Court of International Trade) ruled against the plaintiffs, meaning that Section 232 remains on the books and the tariffs on steel and aluminum remain in effect.