Trade Cases
January 5, 2021
Leibowitz on Trade: More Court Scrutiny of Section 232
Written by Lewis Leibowitz
A court decision last week highlights the limits Congress placed on presidential authority under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act.
In PrimeSource Building Products v. United States (decided April 5), the Court of International Trade ruled that presidential Proclamation 9980 (issued Jan. 24, 2020), imposing tariffs on certain steel and aluminum “derivative products” was unlawful and ordered that the tariffs paid by the plaintiff be refunded, even on entries that had been finally liquidated. This unusual step was also ordered in other Section 232 cases, because the collection of those tariffs did not involve any decision by U.S. Customs and Border protection.
