Price: What’s next for the IEEPA tariffs?

Written by Alan Price & John Allen Riggins

This week’s column was going to address how the Trump administration could use its tariff leverage to combat the global steel excess capacity crisis. But, on Wednesday, that calculus changed — at least for now. The US Court of International Trade (CIT) found that the administration could not use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs. The CIT’s decision and subsequent activity at the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit left many importers, manufacturers, and even casual observers wondering: What’s next?

First things first, it is important to understand the scope of the CIT’s decision. The CIT is well known to trade attorneys but is not necessarily a household name. The court has exclusive jurisdiction over disputes involving import duties and has previously reviewed challenges to the Trump administration’s tariff actions. For example, during the first Trump administration, the CIT upheld the use of Section 232 to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

Alan Price

Price has more than 30 years of experience representing clients in high-profile, complex international trade regulatory matters, including trade litigation involving public and government relations issues. In addition to being chair of the firm’s International Trade Practice, he heads the firm’s antidumping and countervailing duty practice. He also counsels clients on bilateral and multilateral agreements, trade legislation, customs regulation, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) compliance issues, escape clause investigations, and World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute resolution.

John Allen Riggins

Riggins advises in matters related to trade remedies, national security, supply chains, trade policy, and digital trade. He represents client interests in a variety of international trade remedy proceedings before the Department of Commerce (DOC) and International Trade Commission (ITC) and related litigation before the US Court of International Trade (CIT) and the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). Riggins has represented domestic producers in a wide array of industries, including steel, aluminum, wood, wind energy, transportation, and photovoltaics products.