b'12American Journal ofTransportation ajot.comWill government refund billions in Section 301 tariffs? TOP EXPORTERS & Pending court case will determine whether USTRIMPORTERS 2023followed implementation rules.By Peter Buxbaum, AJOTA case now pending beforelemswiththeirimplementa-theUnitedStatesCourtoftion.Theissuesreflectedin International Trade (CIT) couldmany of the comments high-net companies $161 billion iflight the policy choice faced the court finds that the U.S.by the Biden administration as TradeRepresentativeneglecteditcontemplatesthefutureof procedures required to imple- the 301 tariffswhether geo-menttariffsorderedbythepolitical maneuverings or the Trump administration on importshealthoftheU.S.economy fromChina.Thecasewastake priority. arguedbeforeathree-judge CITpanelinearlyFebru- m anUfaCtUrerss Peakary;anappealscourt,ando Ut on301 i mPaCtpossibly the Supreme Court,NewportMetals,LLC,a will likely review the mattersupplier of magnesium anodes eventually. headquarteredinJerseyCity, At issue are the SectionN.J., reported that the Section 301tariffsthatTrumpfirst301 tariffs resulted in a 25% imposedon$50billionof(REFUNDcontinued onPanasonic Corporation, which recently broke ground on an electric vehicle battery factory in De Soto, Kansas, faces importsfromChinainthepage 18) a dilemma with high tariffs on EV battery minerals like graphite, cobalt, lithium, nickel and manganese.summer of 2018, after deter-mining that Chinas technol-ogy transfer and intellectual propertypoliciesandprac-ticesharmedU.S.compa-LOSE.nies. The ensuing trade war ledtheUSTRtoimposea seriesofescalatingtariffs eventuallyhitting$360bil-lion worth of Chinese goods withtariffsofupto25%. TheBidenadministrationWhasdefended TrumpsrightAIT.to impose the duties.Ustrand301 t ariffsCITinitiallyfoundthat the Trump administration had theauthoritytoimposethe tariffs,butthattheUSTRs failuretorespondtothe 10,000commentselicitedin response to the tariff proposal violatedtheAdministrative Procedure Act. The court sent the case back to USTR for fur-ther action, and its now back before CIT because the plain-tiffs, which include thousands ofcompaniesandindustry groups,maintainthatUSTR failedagaintoadequately respond to the comments.USTRs inability to pro-vide a bona fide rationale for collectingtariff duties must bemetwiththeappropriate legalaction,saidKathleen McGuigan,executivevice president and deputy general counsel of the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), one of the plaintiffs. Federal agenciesshouldnotbeper-mitted to continue collecting tariffdutiesthatcannotbe legally justified. Coincidentally, the USTR lastspringinvitedindustry stakeholders to comment on the efficacy of the tariffs as partofafour-yearreview process required by the Trade Act of 1974. The window for filing comments as part of a second phase of that processCOMING JULY 2023ended on January 17, 2023. ManyofthehundredsThings are moving fast at the Port of Savannah. ofrespondentscomplainedWere expanding Berth 1 to accommodate more big ships. about the effects of the tariffs,That means you trim the wait. Check it out. gaports.com/losewait/and some who supported the tariffs in principle found prob-'