US, Importer Settle Suit on Section 232 Exclusion Requests Through Mediation

Mediation at the Court of International Trade resulted in a settlement of all issues in importer Valbruna Slater Stainless' suit on the Commerce Department's denials of its Section 232 steel tariff exclusion requests. Judge Leo Gordon served as mediator and told the court on Nov. 12 that the mediation settled the case (Valbruna Slater Stainless v. United States, CIT # 21-00027).

The court previously conducted mediation in 2021 in the case, though the result was unsuccessful (see 2112150030). Gordon also oversaw the mediation, which was conducted jointly with five other cases. In each case, Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security issued a blanket rejection of the exclusion request and then filed a voluntary remand request to conduct an independent review of each request.

Mediation was attempted again after the trade court rejected the government's bid to dismiss the suit (see 2309070037). Counsel for Valbruna declined to comment on the settlement.