On March 8, 2018, President Trump announced that he intended to impose a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. On March 18, 2018, the Department of Commerce published a notice of interim rules allowing members of the public to request that products be excluded from the tariffs.

Under the interim rules, Commerce may provide relief from the tariffs for steel and aluminum products that are not produced in the United States “in a sufficient and reasonably available amount” or of a satisfactory quality. The rules also specify that Commerce should only exclude products from the tariffs after taking into account specific national security considerations.

On June 20, 2018, Commerce announced the first group of products that are excluded from the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum. (The list of exclusions can be found here.) Commerce will publish future decisions on exclusion requests on an on-going basis. Although steel and aluminum consumers welcomed the development, Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) appears to be receiving an overwhelming number of exclusion requests. According to published reports, BIS has received more than 20,000 requests for product exclusions. BIS has, however, processed only ninety-eight (98) of the requests. Given the overwhelming number of requests, it is likely that BIS will continue to face challenges processing the requests.

On a separate note, a number of the United States’ top trading partners have launched complaints against the Administration’s tariffs on steel and aluminum at the World Trade Organization (“WTO”). China, India, Canada, Mexico, Norway, and the European Union (“EU”) have all initiated WTO dispute settlement proceedings. Although their complaints vary, their core arguments are similar. Generally, in their complaints, these countries contend that the United States is improperly using national security issues as a pretext for taking protectionist actions that are otherwise inconsistent with WTO rules.

Among other things, these countries allege that the tariffs are, in effect, safeguard measures that do not comply with the WTO’s Agreement on Safeguards and that the United States has acted in a discriminatory fashion by granting exemptions from the tariffs for a small number of countries. The dispute resolution process at the WTO may last for a number of years unless the United States resolves the matter with these countries.

A number of countries have also taken retaliatory action against the tariffs. Since President Trump announced the tariffs in March, Canada, China, the European Union, Mexico, India, and Turkey have announced the imposition of retaliatory tariffs on imports of U.S. goods. The products covered by the tariffs vary from country to country. Generally, though, the tariffs cover such products as aluminum and steel products, foodstuffs, whiskies, dairy products, fruits and nuts, pork, rice, paper, coal, tobacco, cosmetics, and automobiles. Although Japan and Russia have not yet imposed retaliatory measures against U.S. goods, both countries have notified the WTO that they intend to do so.