The Commerce Department’s Inspector General’s Office said the Trump administration’s handling of requests for exclusions from tariffs on steel and aluminum is creating the appearance of “improper influence.”
The watchdog said in a report released this week that the process for granting exclusions lacked transparency and that the agency may have taken actions based on off-the-record conversations with stakeholders.
The Trump administration has placed tariffs of 25% on steel imports and 10% on aluminum ones, citing Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. It allows businesses to request certain products be exempted from the tariffs if they are not available domestically. The exclusions are made on a case-by-case basis and are only for the importer making the request. Other companies or entities can object to the exclusions being granted.
The OIG said that “evidence of an unofficial appeals process exists” regarding exclusion decisions. In one case, an unidentified business’s objection to a particular exclusion request “prompted a change in internal review criteria” that the entity that made the initial request was apparently unaware of.
The watchdog stated that there are gaps in the record regarding exclusion requests. “Of the more than 100 meetings and telephone conversations between Department officials and interested parties that we examined for the period March 1, 2018, through March 31, 2019, none had an official record of the subjects discussed during the meeting,” the report said.
A Commerce Department spokesman said the administration had taken numerous steps to ensure the process was free from undue influence, such as having the initial requests filed online and including an extensive rebuttal process for stakeholders to weigh in. “Moreover, the Department plans to further improve transparency with industry in order to provide a level playing field for domestic producers,” the spokesman said. “The Department takes this alert seriously and looks forward to working with the Office of Inspector General to gain additional information about the underpinnings of their findings.”
Lawmakers have raised concerns about the ways the agency handles the request. Last year Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, said that the process “appears to be running on an ad hoc basis, with little transparency, and bending to political pressure from well-connected lobbyists.”
