Trade News Round Up: Aluminum and Steel Tariff Increase, IEEPA Litigation, and Section 301 Exemptions

The Federal Court of Appeals has issued a stay of the ruling made by the Court of International Trade (CIT) declaring the Trump Administration’s tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) unlawful. The IEEPA tariffs will remain in place in the interim, during which both the plaintiffs and the government will file responses. A final ruling the case should not be expected for weeks, if not months, and US businesses should not look for relief from the IEEPA tariffs before then.

In the meantime, however, commodity specific tariffs are going to rise: Donald Trump has announced on social media that as of June 4, 2025, he is going to raise the tariffs on Steel and Aluminum articles he has issued under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. These tariffs, currently at 25% ad valorum, will be doubled to a rate of 50%. This presumptively includes steel and aluminum derivatives, that is, composite items containing steel and aluminum components that are taxed at the 25% (soon to be 50%) rate against those components. Further still, the Trump Administration has included provisions to expand the list of items considered “steel or aluminum derivatives” based off inclusion petitions made by businesses to the Department of Commerce.  The deadline for filing comments with the Department of Commerce is also June 4. US businesses who import composite goods containing metallic components should be prepared to review their commodities and their supply chain to determine the impact of these rate and scope increases.

In related news that bucks the trend of protectionism, however, the USTR has announced an extension of 164 exclusions from the Section 301 tariffs against goods from China. These exclusions will stay in place for an additional 3 months from May 31, 2025, that is, until August 31, 2025. Applicable imports from China will not be subject to the 25% or 7.5% Section 301 tariffs. A full list of the exclusions can be found here.

Allyn International’s service suite includes consultation on current and developing issues in the US trade community. Reach Allyn here for a consultation or, contact us sales@allynintl.com or 239-489-9900.

 

Contributor: Andrew Dosher

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