SAN ANTONIO -- Even after the Trump administration overhauled Section 232 tariffs on steel, aluminum and copper in a proclamation earlier this month, several lawyers at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America annual conference said they still expect audits applying the prior framework on old entries, and the question of whether iron is covered has been left unanswered.
Though the new tariff regime resolves the issue of valuing metal content in the old one by applying the tariffs to the full value of the good, it doesn't resolve those questions for entries prior to the effective date of the new tariffs, the lawyers said. There was previously no binding guidance on how to value metal content under the old tariff regime, only unofficial guidance coming from the base metals Center of Excellence and Expertise.
Speaking April 13, James Amyx, a lawyer at Sandler Travis, recommended continuing to follow the previous informal guidance for any entries entered prior to April 6.
Patrick Caulfield of Grunfeld Desiderio said he is expecting retroactive scrutiny on how importers were valuing Section 232 metals before April 6. He said he's expecting audits, and some people submitting refund claims related to the issue.
"It was a tough standard to meet. I think there were people doing a lot of things out there that may not have been consistent with the guidance. So I don't think it's going away," Caulfield said.
Some confusion also remains about how the tariffs apply to iron. Annex 1a, which is at a 50% tariff, now includes articles like iron manhole covers, cast iron basins and valves, Amyx said.
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