CIT Finds Against Steel and Aluminum 'Derivatives' Tariffs Again

The Court of International Trade again found that President Donald Trump violated procedural time limits when expanding Section 232 tariffs to steel and aluminum "derivatives" in a June 10 decision. Relying on its recent ruling in a similar case involving nail importer PrimeSource, Judges Jennifer Choe-Groves and Timothy Stanceu, as part of a three-judge panel, awarded refunds to Oman Fasteners, Huttig Building Products and Huttig Inc. The panel ruled that the president illegally announced the tariff expansion after the 105-day deadline laid out by Section 232, but denied the plaintiff's other two claims, without prejudice, on the procedural violations of the tariff expansion.

In a dissenting opinion, Judge Miller Baker called out the panel for denying the other two claims simply to award the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit jurisdiction for the appeal. Accusing the other two judges of "'manufacturing' finality" for the judgment, Baker said that finality does not require the court to also put all of the plaintiffs' other arguments to bed on the same fundamental claim for relief.