United States To Investigate How Section 232 Tariffs Affected U.S. Industries

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) will undertake an investigation to determine the affect the United States’ Section 232 and Section 301 tariffs, including the 25 percent steel and 10 percent aluminum tariffs put in place by the Trump administration, had on U.S. industries. The commission’s goal is to provide detailed information on U.S. trade, production, and prices in the industries directly affected by these penalties.

ITC will hold a public hearing regarding the investigation on July 21, 2022. Information about the hearing, including how to participate or observe, will be posted here no later than June 21, 2022. Requests to appear at the hearing should be filed no later than 5:15 p.m. on July 6, 2022.

The USITC also welcomes written submissions, which should be submitted no later than 5:15 p.m. on August 24, 2022. All written submissions, except for confidential business information, will be available for public inspection.

All filings to appear at the hearing and written submissions must be made through the Commission’s Electronic Document Information System at https://edis.usitc.gov. Stakeholders with questions regarding electronic filing should contact EDIS3Help@USITC.gov or consult the Commission’s Handbook on Filing Procedures. More information about how to participate is here.

This investigation was mandated by Congress as part of legislation signed into law this past March. The ITC will issue a public report after its investigation, which will provide:

• Background information on the Section 232 and 301 tariffs and an overview of the tariffs that were in effect as of March 15, 2022; and
• An economic analysis of the impact of these tariffs on U.S. trade, production, and prices in the industries most affected by these tariffs.

The USITC expects to submit its report to Congress by March 15, 2023.

As a reminder, MSCI consistently has argued that global overcapacity and other unfair trading practices, particularly by China, have harmed the U.S. steel and aluminum markets.

To address this circumvention, in 2017 MSCI advised federal officials to provide relief for producers up and down the supply chain and to consider the consequences of any new trade policy, including: the economic impact of global overcapacity on the entire domestic metals supply chain; transition times and implementation rules to any new policy; availability of domestic metals to meet U.S. national security needs, as well as general industrial and consumer demand; and trade flows under current free trade agreements, including the United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA).

MSCI also asked that Canada and Mexico be excluded from any trade penalties. Click here to review all of MSCI’s advocacy on Section 232 tariffs.