PrimeSource Indicates Impending SCOTUS Appeal in Case on Section 232 Duties Covering 'Derivatives'

Importer PrimeSource Building Products moved for a partial stay of the Court of International Trade's order dismissing its suit challenging President Donald Trump's expansion of Section 232 steel and aluminum duties onto "derivative" products. PrimeSource said it wants the order stayed pending the resolution of its appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court (Primesource Building Products v. U.S., CIT # 20-00032).

In the case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said Trump legally imposed the duties beyond procedural time limits given that the duties fit under the commerce secretary's original plan of action for the national security tariffs (see 2302070030). The decision relied heavily on the Federal Circuit's previous opinion in Transpacific v. U.S.

Following the appellate court's ruling, the trade court dismissed the case (see 2307130049). CIT ordered that the entries affected by the case should be liquidated with the Section 232 duties. In its proposed stay order, PrimeSource asked for liquidation to be suspended "to allow time for PrimeSource’s petition for certiorari to be considered by the Supreme Court and to defer action on a large body of past imports while that petition is resolved to avoid the possibility of the Government and PrimeSource having to reverse the entire process."