Features
Commerce debuts 'inclusions process' for steel, aluminum derivative products
Written by Ethan Bernard
May 2, 2025
The US Commerce Department has set up an “inclusions process” to add derivative aluminum and steel articles within the scope of the new Section 232 tariffs.
This was done through an interim final rule (IFR) established by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) released on Friday in the Federal Register. It was effective as of April 30.
“Comments on this interim final rule must be received by BIS no later than June 16, 2025,” according to the Federal Register.
“BIS will establish a submissions window to receive aluminum and steel derivative inclusion requests from industry during two-week submission windows opening three times annually at the beginning of each May, September, and January, with the first such window to open on May 1, 2025,” Commerce said.
The department added BIS “will publicly post non-confidential versions of all valid requests for a 14-day public comment window on regulations.gov after the conclusion of the two-week submission window.”
A decision will be made within 60 days from the receipt of the requests that: “(1) states whether the request was approved or denied; and (2) summarizes the rationale for making this determination.”
President Trump’s new Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum went into effect in March.
Ethan Bernard
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Steel equities and steel futures fell hard after news broke earlier this week that the US and Mexico might reach an agreement that would result in the 50% Section 232 tariff coming off Mexican steel. The sharp declines didn’t make much sense, especially if, as some reports indicate, Mexico might agree to a fixed quota. They didn't make sense even if steel flows between the US and Mexico remain unchanged.
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