On Monday, the Court of International Trade (CIT) announced that it found that Donald Trump had violated his presidential authority when he expanded Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum derivative products back in January 2020.

The decision was announced following months of litigation resulting from a lawsuit filed by PrimeSource Building Products – a steel nail importer – alleging Trump’s imposition of additional tariffs on derivatives occurred long after the 105-day deadline for tariff action originally set forth by the Commerce Department in 2018.

As a result, refunds will be granted to PrimeSource for any payments made towards the 25% steel derivative tariffs. This includes any entries of PrimeSource’s merchandise at issue in this litigation that liquidated with the assessment of 25% duties pursuant to Proclamation 9980.  PrimeSource is entitled to reliquidation of those entries and a refund of any duties deposited or paid, with interest as provided by law.

Companies who import any of these steel and aluminum derivative products should consider taking legal action to avoid significant additional duties.

At this time, Commerce still has the chance to appeal CIT’s decision in a higher federal court. Therefore, importers with similar situations to PrimeSource may need to wait to file applications for refunds until the government makes its final decision.

Shapiro will continue to monitor the situation and provide status updates as they become available.

Please reach out to [email protected] with any questions.