US to Refund Section 232 Duties on Some Entries in Denied Exclusions Case

The U.S. agreed to liquidate some of importer LE Commodities' steel tube entries without Section 232 duties and refund any duties paid, per the terms of a settlement reached by the parties in the importer's case against its denied requests for Section 232 exclusions (LE Commodities v. United States, CIT # 22-00245).

The parties said that CBP will reliquidate seven of LE Commodities' sanitary tubing entries without Section 232 duties, adding that any Section 232 duties assessed on another 13 of the importer's entries "will be final and non-protestable." The result was achieved through court-ordered mediation conducted by Judge Leo Gordon (see 2410020027).

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. steelmaker United Industries. The U.S. went through a voluntary remand period in the suit to reassess its denials, though it came to the same conclusion (see 2404080064).

At issue in the case were 14 exclusion requests, nine of which "covered stainless steel welded sanitary tubing conforming to 3-A sanitary standard and ASTM A-270 of alloy type 304/304L." The other five "covered stainless steel welded sanitary tubing conforming to 3-A sanitary standard and ASTM A-270 of alloy type 316/316L." Seven of the exclusion requests were filed in December 2019, four came between April and November 2020 and the last three between July and September 2021.

Five of the entries that will be liquidated without the Section 232 duties cover the "304/304L sanitary tubing," while the other two cover the "316/316L sanitary tubing." The entries range in value from $65,250 to $134,875.67.