Tariff push hits courts
The White House’s new method for imposing tariffs has already been challenged in court, suggesting the administration’s trade tools are facing fresh legal limits. A separate change to Section 232 now counts the full customs value of products containing steel — not just their steel content — which broadens tariff exposure for importers and complicates pricing models. Reporters have also flagged political scrutiny about the timing of a major steel donation and the tariff shift, underscoring arguments that tariffs are being used as ongoing leverage rather than a routine trade remedy. (ms.now) (vehicleservicepros.com) (inquisitr.com) (ft.com)
The White House tried a new tariff route after the Supreme Court knocked down a broad set of earlier import taxes, and that new route is already in court. On April 10, a three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of International Trade heard a challenge to the administration’s 10 percent global import tax. (usnews.com) The legal switch was specific. President Trump announced the new tariffs on February 20 under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, a law that allows tariffs of up to 15 percent for up to 150 days during a “large and serious” balance-of-payments problem. (usnews.com) The plaintiffs are 24 mostly Democratic-led states and two small businesses, and they say routine trade deficits are not the kind of short-term monetary emergency Section 122 was written for. Reuters reported the new 10 percent tariff took effect on February 24. (usnews.com) That court fight is separate from a second tariff change that hit importers on April 6. A presidential proclamation signed on April 2 rewrote how Section 232 metal tariffs are calculated for steel, aluminum, and copper goods. (ey.com) Before April 6, many finished products paid the metal tariff only on the value of the metal inside them. After April 6, the tariff applies to the full customs value of the imported product, even when the steel, aluminum, or copper is only one part of the item. (whitecase.com) That changes the math fast. White & Case said the old system split a product’s customs value into metal and non-metal pieces, while the new system taxes the whole item and offers no exception for goods already in transit when the rule took effect at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time on April 6. (whitecase.com) The new rates are also steeper and more layered than a simple steel tariff. Ernst & Young said the proclamation sets a 50 percent tariff for many steel, aluminum, and copper articles, a 25 percent tariff for many derivative products, and reduced rates for some United Kingdom goods and some products made with United States-origin metal. (ey.com) So an importer bringing in a machine, auto part, or appliance with steel inside now has to price not just the steel content but the entire declared value of the shipment. White & Case said the proclamation also adds some products, removes others, and stops steel, aluminum, and copper Section 232 tariffs from stacking on the same derivative product. (whitecase.com) At the same time, the politics around steel got messier. The New York Times reported on April 8 that ArcelorMittal, a Luxembourg-based company and the world’s second-largest steelmaker, is donating tens of millions of dollars of foreign steel for President Trump’s White House ballroom project. (nytimes.com) The timing is what drew attention. The Times reported that Trump said last October he had been offered steel worth $37 million, and that the White House made tariff adjustments days later that could help ArcelorMittal by cutting in half tariffs on automotive steel exports from its Canadian plant. (nytimes.com) Put together, the picture is not of tariffs settling into a stable rulebook. One set is being tested in court under a rarely used 1974 law, and another just expanded from taxing the metal inside a product to taxing the full product value under Section 232. (usnews.com) (ey.com)
