GAO: Commerce Processing Exclusion Requests Faster, but Needs to Update Public Guidance

A recent Government Accountability Office report on Section 232 tariff exclusions on steel and aluminum noted that the Commerce Department has tweaked a number of procedures in its exclusion application and decision-making process, but has not updated the guidance on its website to let the public know. It recommended that the department do so.

For instance, domestic producers no longer have to assert that they can produce the amount that an exclusion requestor is asking for within eight weeks, but rather within the amount of time it would take to get the quantity from a foreign seller. That, too, has not been added to the guidance. The Commerce Department clarified that domestic producers have grounds to object even if they are not currently producing the product. And they clarified that a single request can cover a range of dimensions.

The GAO analysts also reported that more than 80% of exclusion requests are now decided within the department's 90-day goal, though requests that draw objection take 143 days to decide, on average. Requests with no objections are decided in about 45 days, the report said.