ITC

As the U.S. International Trade Commission gathers input on the effects of duty suspensions and reductions enacted under the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill Act of 2018, Commissioner Meredith Broadbent this week suggested the Trump administration use MTB to gain more concessions in trade talks.

Imports of fabricated structural steel from Canada, Mexico and China could be harming domestic producers, the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled in a preliminary determination this week, allowing the Commerce Department to continue to investigate and, possibly, impose anti-dumping and countervailing duties.

Any legislation modifying the president’s authority to impose national security-based tariffs must establish clear guidelines and distribute adequate resources to the U.S. International Trade Commission if the agency is given a role, ITC Commissioner Jason Kearns said last Friday.

The new spending package President Trump signed on Friday mandates that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative create an exclusion process for the third tranche of Section 301 tariffs that have been imposed on China and allocates funds to the Commerce Department to better its Section 232 exclusion process.

The government shutdown necessitated the move to March 6.

The partial government shutdown has stymied tariff exclusion requests, stalled anti-dumping and countervailing duty proceedings and delayed progress in future market openings, sources tell Inside U.S. Trade.

A final report will be submitted to USTR by May 8.

The U.S. International Trade Commission on Thursday asked industry representatives and others how the elimination of tariffs on autos and trucks from Japan would impact production in the U.S., with one commissioner predicting autos would be a major focus for the ITC in its assessment of a potential deal.

NORPAC had said it would judicial review of an ITC ruling striking down preliminary AD/CVD duties, but did not file by the Nov. 26 deadline.