JSW USA Sues Commerce Over Tariffs on Slabs

States JSW’s complaint: “The Department of Commerce ignored the record evidence establishing that the steel slab JSW USA imports is not presently available in the U.S. market, and instead issued the same boilerplate denial to each and every one of JSW USA’s exclusion requests. In denying JSW USA’s exclusion requests, the Department yielded to the objections of three competitive domestic steel producers…which filed thousands of objections to their domestic competitors’ exclusion requests. In their objections, the companies claimed, without any evidence, that they could supply at least 85 million metric tons of steel when (a) their total capacity is only 35 million metric tons and (b) they do not and cannot produce many of the types and sizes of products needed. In sustaining the domestic competitors’ objections, the Department undertook no effort to verify their claims, ignored the conclusive evidence that these companies are unable to produce the subject products in the required quality or quantity, and failed even to offer any reasoned basis for its decisions.”

JSW’s complaint seeks declaratory relief from the U.S. Court of International Trade and the refund of any tariffs paid.