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

Ethan Bernard is managing editor for Steel Market Update. He previously worked for American Metal Market as a copy editor in the New York office for two years, starting in 2008. Later, he copy edited AMM’s monthly magazine on a freelance basis from 2015 until 2017. With experience in financial copywriting and textbook publishing, he holds a BA in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley, and an MFA. in Creative Writing from New York University. He can be reached at ethan@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7871.

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