Aluminum Importer Yet Another Party Pushing Back on Section 232 Exclusion Request Denials

Another importer alleged June 7 that the Commerce Department improperly relied on competitors’ unsupported claim that they, as domestic producers, could provide enough of an input -- aluminum rod, this time -- to cover the importer’s needs. As a result, the importer had been forced to pay “tens of millions” of dollars in Section 232 tariffs, it said (Prysmian Cables and Systems, USA v. U.S., CIT # 24-00101).

It said that Commerce was violating agency regulations and depriving it of its right to due process.

The 37-page complaint importer Prysmian Cables and Systems, USA filed with the Court of International Trade joins a growing number claims that Commerce has been unreasonably refusing to grant Section 232 exclusions, instead relying on unverified claims by domestic producers that they themselves could meet importers’ needs (see 2404090067).

The importer, which manufactures electrical cables, said the department “blindly yielded to the baseless complaints of their direct competitor, Southwire Company.” Objecting to each of Prysmian’s exclusion requests, Southwire claimed “without corroboration” that domestic industries produce enough aluminum rod that Prysmian shouldn’t have to look abroad, Prysmian said.

Objectors had been required to give “specific written evidence of their ability to produce the substitute product within the requisite timeframe,” but they had failed to do so, it said. It pointed out that Southwire itself had even filed aluminum tariff exclusion requests.

The importer said Southwire falsely claimed to have offered to sell to Prysmian and had rebuffed. But, in fact, “Southwire initially refused to sell to General Cable,” Prysmian’s precursor, it said. It said Southwire then “defaulted on a purchase order.”

Further, the aluminum rods specifications Southwire provided to Prysmian had “critical deficiencies,” it claimed.

“In sustaining their direct competitor’s objections, the Department undertook no effort to verify Southwire’s claims, ignored the conclusive evidence that Southwire could not -- and indeed would not -- satisfy the needs of Prysmian and General Cable, and failed even to offer any reasoned basis for its decisions,” the importer said.