SCOTUS Ruling Tees Up Busy Summer For Trade
Ashley A. Amidon, CAE
Chief Executive Officer
International Wood Products Association
By now you’ve seen that the Supreme Court of the United States has invalidated President Trump’s IEEPA tariffs. While this was something of a vindication for many businesses that understand it is U.S. importers rather than foreign producers that pay tariffs, it sets up another summer of tariff uncertainty as the White House seeks to refashion a tariff regime using other authorities.
For many importers, the immediate question is “when will I get my refund?”. As I am writing this column in late March, there is very little clear information on when that might be. The Supreme Court left it to the lower federal courts to oversee how refunds would be carried out. While there may be additional information by the time this edition goes to press, I encourage imports to work closely with their customs brokers to ensure that they are taking the necessary steps to ensure they are able receive their refunds as quickly as possible.
The longer-term question is “what happens with tariffs now?” Following the Supreme Court’s ruling, President Trump immediately moved to impose a 10 percent universal tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which he subsequently announced would be increased to 15 percent. Because the statute only allows these duties to remain in effect for 150 days without congressional approval (highly unlikely), U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has indicated that the Trump Administration will be using other trade authorities to rebuild a tariff structure resembling the preexisting IEEPA reciprocal duties that will be in place when they expire on July 24th.
It appears the principal authorities, Ambassador Greer and the Trump trade team, will rely upon are Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 (Unfair Practices) and Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (National Security). As of this writing, USTR has already initiated new Section 301 investigations into excess capacity and forced labor. Ambassador Greer has indicated that he intends to fast track the investigations to ensure that any resulting trade restrictions can be imposed by late July. It is also expected that USTR could announce additional Section 232 investigations, or even possibly expand current orders like the one impacting certain wood products. IWPA staff will be following any movement to expand the timber 232 closely.
So it looks like it’s going to be a busy summer not only for the Trump trade team, but for our team at IWPA. We will use every tool at our disposal to continue sharing our perspective that any new tariff on imported wood products is a tax on U.S. businesses that source these critical products.
If you are not yet an IWPA member, consider joining us so we can help you connect with policymakers in the Trump Administration and on Capitol Hill to educate them about the unique role the products you source play in supporting high quality jobs in your community.
Buckle up. It’s going to be a long hot summer.
