Government Transparency Group Sues Commerce Over Section 232 Exemption Records

Cause of Action Institute sued the Commerce Department "for failing to turn over public documents related to trade tariffs and tariff exemptions," the government transparency group said in an Oct. 18 news release. The group said in its complaint that Commerce failed to comply with public document requests under the Freedom of Information Act. Agencies are required to respond to FOIA requests within 20 days, but that time has elapsed and Commerce has not issued a final determination or released the records, the group said.

CoA Institute filed three FOIA requests, starting on Aug. 28. The first request sought work calendar records for Commerce staff involving tariff exemption policies; the next request asked for employee records related to identifying the employees assigned to reviewing the requests for product exclusions from Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs; and the final request sought communications records between Commerce officials and companies benefiting from the exemptions.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. “Tariffs manipulate the free market by creating government-controlled barriers that harm hardworking Americans and putting the economic health of our country at risk," John Vecchione, president and CEO of CoA Institute. "We now have a system where the Executive Branch has the power to pick winners and losers. Our investigation seeks to uncover the process by which tariff exemptions are approved and denied, ensure the tariff-exemption exclusion process is free of political and corporate influence, and seek to uncover any communication between government officials and the companies successfully blocking tariff exemptions.” Commerce declined to comment.