Commerce and Importer Still Working on Steel and Aluminum Refund Details

Importer Mirror Metals and the Commerce Department need more time to work out the details of refunding Section 232 duties following Commerce's decision to grant retroactive tariff exclusion bids, according to an Aug. 22 status report filed with the Court of International Trade (Mirror Metals v. U.S., CIT #21-00144).

Commerce granted 45 Section 232 steel and aluminum tariff exclusion bids after voluntary remand, submitting the results to the court April 18 (see 2204190016). Both Mirror Metals and the government are continuing to coordinate how the results "should be effected with respect" to prior importations covered by the exclusion requests. Mirror Metals said it recently completed a review of entry documents to confirm refund amounts. Both parties are in discussions on the appropriate method for the issuance of refunds and say they require additional time.

When launching its case against the denials, Mirror Metals argued that the requests were denied "with no reasoning or analysis," and that Commerce erred by engaging in "undocumented, ex parte communications" with the three objectors. Commerce denied 11 of the requests on the grounds that CBP advised Commerce the product descriptions in the requests were inconsistent with the claimed classification under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S. (see 2111190056).