The Aluminum Extruders Council pointed to the closure of Alcoa's Intalco Works in Ferndale, Washington, as proof that Section 232 is not helping the aluminum industry, and said that since there is no longer a source of domestic billets west of the Mississippi River, they have to import. But both domestic and foreign supply of aluminum billets is more expensive than it would be in other countries, so domestic extruders are at a price disadvantage. Exporters circumvent Section 232 -- which covers aluminum extrusions -- by doing further fabricating of the extrusions and classifying them under a subheading not covered in Section 232, the group said. “The truth is, no one is going to build primary aluminum production in the U.S. with or without the 232,” the group said in a June 9 press release. “It is time for the Administration to re-examine its policy in this area. We applaud their goal. We really do. However, the path they have taken has been proven to be ineffective, and ultimately counterproductive.”
The Foreign-Trade Zones Board issued the following notice for June 4:
The Foreign-Trade Zones Board issued the following notice for June 2:
The Foreign-Trade Zones Board issued the following notice for June 1:
The Foreign-Trade Zones Board issued the following notice for May 28:
After years of complaints about the exclusion process for steel and aluminum tariffs, the Commerce Department is soliciting comments about how to improve it. Comments should include input on what should be on the request, objection and rebuttal forms; who should be allowed to request or object; the information published with the decisions and the factors for making a decision; how granular the product descriptions have to be; and whether there should be exclusions for downstream products.
Comments on a new Section 232 investigation into mobile cranes are due July 10, the Commerce Department said in a notice. The investigation (see 2005060062) follows complaints from the Manitowoc Company that a Chinese company's patent infringement, along with low-priced imports after the patent-infringing company was banned, caused a plant closure.
The Foreign-Trade Zones Board issued the following notice for May 21:
Comments on a new Section 232 investigation into transformer parts made from electrical steel are due June 9, and rebuttals to those comments are due June 19, the Commerce Department said in a notice. The investigation (see 2005040059) follows years of complaints that companies could avoid 25% tariffs on electrical steel by buying assemblies of that kind of steel.
The Foreign-Trade Zones Board issued the following notice for May 18: