Our April 9th newsletter, entitled ‘TFTEA Accelerated Payment and Tariff Updates’, informed you of additional duties on the imports of steel and aluminum articles under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. These were effective in late March. A big question in the drawback community was whether such duties would be eligible for duty drawback. Considering that they were not viewed as antidumping or countervailing duties (ineligible for drawback), there was hope that these new duties would be eligible.
However, based on the Presidential Proclamations published just last night, no drawback is allowed on the import duties on aluminum and steel articles. As noted below, the statement is very brief with no support.
Given the millions of dollars of duties at stake here, we anticipate a lawsuit to be filed challenging this action. There is also the question of retroactivity on the little over a month wherein these duties have been paid and drawback may have been claimed.
We will keep you posted on any new developments.
The pertinent links are:
Presidential Proclamation Adjusting Imports of Steel into the United States
Presidential Proclamation Adjusting Imports of Aluminum into the United States
UPDATE: Additional Duty on Imports of Steel and Aluminum Articles under Section 232
