Leibowitz on Trade: Update on Product Exclusions

Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington:

The China tariffs, the steel and aluminum tariffs, the safeguard tariffs on solar panels and washing machines all have a feature in common: some form of product exclusion. This means that imported products covered by these measures may be excluded if certain requirements are met, and the administering official sees fit to approve it. Under these procedures, any exclusion may be rejected or approved at the discretion of the person with authority. That would be the Secretary of Commerce for Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum, and the U.S. Trade Representative for China tariffs. Exclusions under the safeguard tariff rate quotas for solar panels and solar cells have been approved (again, the U.S. Trade Representative has the authority to approve or reject exclusion requests), but the time for requesting them has passed. There are no exclusion procedures for the import measures on residential washing machines; however, the import restrictions initially proclaimed by the president had a few exclusions for certain types of washing machines.