CIT Grants Bid to Add 2 Entries to NLMK Pennsylvania's Section 232 Exclusion Denials Challenge

The Court of International Trade granted steel company NLMK Pennsylvania's request to file a second amended complaint in its challenge to the Commerce Department's denials of the company's Section 232 steel and aluminum tariff exclusion requests. The amended complaint tacks on two additional entries that were denied the Section 232 exclusions since they cover the same products. The motion went unopposed from the U.S. (NLMK Pennsylvania LLC v. United States, CIT #21-00507).

NLMK had sought exclusions for two different types -- 10" thick and 8" thick -- of semi-finished stainless steel slab from Russia via an initial 54 exclusion requests. Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security rejected the requests, finding that the domestic industry was capable of timely making the slabs in quantities sufficient to fill NLMK's orders. At CIT, NLMK argued that Commerce did not provide sufficient analysis to deny the exclusion requests. Most recently, the court granted Commerce's voluntary remand request to review the decision to deny 15 of the 54 exclusion request (see 2202020022).

NLMK's April 26 motion for leave to file the amended complaint then tacked on two additional recent exclusion request denials for the same products. "In the interest of obtaining a just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of its claims, NLMK should be permitted challenge all of its exclusion request denials together," the steel company said.