Federal Circuit Sides with Government in Turkey 232 Duty Case
Reposted from the swanky new website of Barnes, Richardson & Colburn (but still my work). The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit today reversed the Court of International Trade’s decision in Transpacific Steel. The CIT had held that the President lacked authority to increase Section 232 duties on steel from Turkey to 50% while imposing a 25% on imports from other countries. The CIT’s decision was based on the fact that President Trump did not impose the additional duties on products from Turkey within the statutory 105-day time limit imposed by § 1862(c) or without relying on a new Section 232 report from the Secretary of Commerce. The CIT also found that singling out Turkish imports violated the equal protection guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment. Regarding the statutory time limit, the Federal Circuit opinion by Circuit Judge Taranto (with Circuit Judge Chen in agreement) framed the question as whether the law “permits the President to announce a continuing course of actio