The president’s new tariffs broaden the scope of the “national security” tariffs to cover derivative products made from steel and aluminum such as nails and staples. The stated rationale is that companies are circumventing the tariffs and “erod[ing] the customer base for U.S. producers of aluminum and steel.” Importers of these derivative products have a very sound legal case if they wish to challenge the new tariffs at the Court of International Trade, which recently issued a preliminary opinion in a similar case that provided a narrower interpretation of Section 232 than that of the Trump administration.
