CIT Refers Section 232 Exclusion Denial Suit to Mediation After BIS Continues Rejecting Requests

The Court of International Trade on April 8 referred LE Commodities' challenge to 14 denied requests for exclusions from Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs to mediation before Judge Leo Gordon. The order was penned by Judge M. Miller Baker, who gave the parties until July 8 to complete the mediation, unless Gordon "recommends an extension" (LE Commodities v. United States, CIT # 22-00245).

The mediation order comes one business day after the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security issued a remand in the suit continuing to deny the exclusion requests. All 14 requests concern LE Commodities' entries of stainless steel welded sanitary tubing, imported in 2019 and 2020.

LE Commodities took to the trade court to contest the exclusion requests, arguing that BIS, in denying the requests, merely "parroted" claims from U.S. steel maker United Industries. The U.S. asked for a voluntary remand to review the requests (see 2310100022).

Back from remand, the agency took a deeper look at the evidence submitted by the importer, ultimately coming to the same conclusion. For each request, Commerce's International Trade Administration provided an accompanying discussion of the exclusion requests, providing a "satisfactory quality" analysis and a "sufficient and reasonably available amount" analysis.

The agency said that after looking at the evidence submitted by LE Commodities, United Industries "meets the quality criterion" and the "timeliness criterion."