A group of steel importers and manufacturing companies brought a challenge before the Supreme Court, arguing that the 25% tariffs imposed on steel imports by President Trump were not within his rights to implement. The associate of steel interests argued that section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 makes the tariffs unconstitutional and claim that the power to impose the tariffs lies with congress.
The tariffs were put in place in late 2018 and affected all steel companies importing foreign steel into the U.S. The ruling exempted Mexico and Canada as gesture to the two countries who were working out details of US-Mexico-Canada-Agreement (USMCA) at the time.
The industry trade group of first took the challenge to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which ruled against them. The appeals court and a lower court both ruled that this issue had been put to rest in 1976. In the case of Federal Energy Administration. v. Algonquin SNG, Inc., the Supreme Court ruled that section 232 “does not violate the nondelegation doctrine.”
The industry group had no choice but to bring the matter before the Supreme Court. Rather than take up the matter, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the lower court ruling should stand and theeby refusing to hear the case.
