CIT Gives Importer, US 60 Days to Effectuate Decision to Grant Section 232 Exclusions

The Court of International Trade on Dec. 1 stayed for 60 days a case on the Commerce Department's refusal to grant Section 232 steel and aluminum tariff exclusions so the parties can conclude the voluntary remand process and "effectuate" Commerce's remand results. The agency changed course last year, granting the exclusions for importer Mirror Metals after finding that the relevant steel article could not be made at a sufficient level in the U.S. (see 2204190016) (Mirror Metals v. United States, CIT # 21-00144).

Mirror Metals and the U.S. filed a joint status report at the court on Dec. 1, asking the court for a stay until the parties could resolve how to apply the exclusions to the importer's "prior importations of the steel products covered by the exclusion requests." The parties said they have made "substantial progress in effectuating" the remand results. While a stipulated judgment in two related cases resolved the issue for some of the entries, the parties are still discussing how to handle the remaining entries at issue.

The court granted the stay for 60 days, telling the parties to file a joint status report by Jan. 30.