Broad Section 232 Tariff Challenge Stayed Pending Federal Circuit Appeal

A far-reaching legal challenge to Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs brought by ME Global was stayed by the Court of International Trade pending an appeal of a related case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, according to a June 14 stay order (ME Global, Inc. v. United States, CIT #20-00130) The Federal Circuit case, Universal Steel Products, Inc. v. United States, carries arguments similar to those in ME Global's case in that both claim that procedural requirements were ignored in President Donald Trump's expansion of the tariffs (see 2105250077).

The accompanying consent motion to stay proceedings pointed out that even though certain claims made by ME Global overlap with matters in another recent CIT decision, Thyssenkrupp Materials NA Inc., et al v. United States, one of ME Global's claims corresponds to matters in Universal Steel. For this reason, proceedings should be stayed to "avoid the need for potentially unnecessary litigation regarding that Count." In Thyssenkrupp, the court found that the importer-specific Section 232 exclusion process was constitutional (see 2103100028).