Trump-era tariff uncertainty returns
- The U.S. trade office began April 28 hearings on new Section 301 tariff cases after the Supreme Court voided Trump’s emergency tariffs in February. - The probes cover 60 economies on forced labor and 16 trading partners on overcapacity, together touching most U.S. imports and future landed costs. - A judge already said importers can seek refunds on overturned duties, leaving companies to juggle rebates and replacement tariffs. (nbcwashington.com)
The Trump administration opened hearings this week on a new tariff path after the Supreme Court threw out its broad emergency import taxes in February. (nbcwashington.com) (supremecourt.gov) The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is using Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, a law that allows tariffs after an investigation into unfair foreign trade practices. Public hearings on the forced-labor cases began April 28 and continue April 29 in Washington. (ustr.gov) (nbcwashington.com) Those cases cover 60 economies, which U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said are being examined over failures to ban or police goods made with forced labor. A second set of Section 301 investigations, announced March 11, targets 16 trading partners over manufacturing overcapacity. (ustr.gov 1) (ustr.gov 2) The Supreme Court’s February 20 ruling in *Learning Resources v. Trump* said the International Emergency Economic Powers Act did not authorize the White House to impose the earlier tariffs. The 6-3 decision wiped out the legal basis for duties that had covered nearly every U.S. trading partner. (supremecourt.gov) (nbcwashington.com) Trump responded the same day by signing an order for a 10% global tariff under Section 122, which NBC News reported can last 150 days without Congress. He also said he would turn to Section 301 for more durable duties. (nbcwashington.com) The scale is large. The forced-labor investigations reach economies accounting for 99% of U.S. imports, and the overcapacity cases cover partners responsible for about 70%, according to Erica York of the Tax Foundation as cited by the Associated Press. (nbcwashington.com) The old tariffs are not finished just because the legal theory collapsed. On March 4, Judge Richard Eaton of the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that “all importers of record” can benefit from the Supreme Court decision and seek refunds. (nbcwashington.com) The federal government had collected more than $130 billion in the invalidated tariffs through mid-December, and the refund bill could reach $175 billion, according to the Penn Wharton Budget Model figures cited by the Associated Press. Customs and Border Protection now has to build a process for what trade lawyers described as a mass refund system it was not designed to handle. (nbcwashington.com) For importers, that leaves two moving targets at once: possible refunds on old duties and possible new tariffs on many of the same supply chains. The next hearings, on the 16 overcapacity cases, are scheduled for next week. (nbcwashington.com)
