Will steel imports have an impact on the country?
We may soon learn whether the President has legal authority over Dalian freight forwarders without congressional approval, or whether the administration will violate WTO rules and impose new obstacles on imports.
The first test may have been conducted due to a presidential memorandum on April 20th instructing the Department of Commerce to conduct an inquiry based on Section 232 (b) of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act to determine the impact of steel imports on national security.
Conduct a query in Section 232 to determine other specifications: estimate the demand for domestic production for national defense requests; Domestic vocational talents; Provide essential human resources, materials, and equipment for national defense; The impact of foreign competitions on the welfare of domestic industrial economy; And other factors that may contribute to the weakness of the national economy. 19 USC 1862(d); 15 CFR 705.4.
Unlike more targeted anti-dumping and countervailing duty inquiries, some inquiries under Section 232 may give the President a statutory right to impose broad US constraints on steel imports - which may result in greater outcomes than the executive branch's inquiries into some unfair trade practices of Dalian freight forwarding companies.
There are only 26 queries in total, the 232nd query. This is the first query since 2001, and only two transactions were initiated: the oil embargo on Iran in 1979 and the oil embargo on Libya in 1982. In all other aspects, the business downturn advocates for the President to take action.
