Section 232 Steel and Aluminum

Section 232 Steel and Aluminum Tariffs

On March 8, 2018, President Trump exercised his authority under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 to impose tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum articles to protect the national security of the United States. This decision followed Section 232 Investigations into imports of steel and aluminum led by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).

Key Presidential Proclamations related to the implementation of the Section 232 Steel and Aluminum Tariffs include (but are not limited to) the following:

Presidential Proclamation 9704 of March 8, 2025 – Adjusting Imports of Aluminum Into the United States

Presidential Proclamation 9705 of March 8, 2025 – Adjusting Imports of Steel Into the United States

Presidential Proclamation 9980 of January 24, 2020 – Adjusting Imports of Derivative Aluminum Articles and Derivative Steel Articles Into the United States

Presidential Proclamation 10895 of February 10, 2025 – Adjusting Imports of Aluminum Into the United States

Presidential Proclamation 10896 of February 10, 2025 – Adjusting Imports of Steel Into the United States

Presidential Proclamation 10947 of June 3, 2025 – Adjusting Imports of Aluminum and Steel Into the United States

Consolidated lists of the HTSUS Classifications subject to the Section 232 Steel and Aluminum Tariffs as of March 2025 can be found in the below Federal Register Notices:

Implementation of Duties on Aluminum Pursuant to Proclamation 10895 Adjusting Imports of Aluminum Into the United States

Implementation of Duties on Steel Pursuant to Proclamation 10896 Adjusting Imports of Steel Into the United States

Section 232 Steel and Aluminum Inclusions

Proclamations 10895 and 10896 of February 2025, among other actions, applied the Section 232 Steel and Aluminum Tariffs to additional steel and aluminum downstream (or “derivative”) products, calculated either on the full value of the product or the value of the steel and aluminum content of the product depending on the HTSUS Classification.

The Proclamations also required that the Secretary establish a process to consider public requests for including new derivative aluminum and steel articles within the scope of the Section 232 Steel and Aluminum Tariffs. On April 30, 2025, BIS publicized a rule implementing the resulting Section 232 Inclusions Process. Submissions are accepted in two-week windows three times per year.

For more information on the requirements for filing, see:

Adoption and Procedures of the Section 232 Steel and Aluminum Tariff Inclusions Process

Submitted Section 232 Inclusion Requests are posted publicly on Regulations.gov to Docket BIS-2025-0023.

Section 232 Steel and Aluminum Exclusions

Important notice

Pursuant to Presidential Proclamations 10895 and 10896 of February 10, 2025, Commerce is no longer processing Section 232 Exclusion Requests effective 11:59 PM ET on February 10, 2025, and is no longer accepting or issuing exclusions from the Section 232 Steel and Aluminum Tariffs.

Section 232 Exclusions already granted and activated as of February 10, 2025, will remain effective until their expiration date or until their excluded volume is exhausted, whichever occurs first.

All General Approved Exclusions (GAEs) and country-level ‘alternative arrangements’ to the Section 232 Steel and Aluminum Duties (including exemptions, absolute quotas, and tariff-rate quotas) were revoked effective 12:01 AM Eastern Time on March 12, 2025. EU Steel Extended (‘STX’)  Exclusions were also revoked as part of the ‘alternative arrangement’ with the EU on March 12, 2025.

Section 232 Exclusions Portal

The Section 232 Exclusions Portal remains online in read-only mode to assist in administering previously granted Section 232 Exclusions. As noted above, Commerce is no longer accepting or issuing exclusions from the Section 232 Steel and Aluminum Tariffs.

Access the Section 232 Exclusions Portal.

Download the Public Data Extract of the Section 232 Exclusions Portal.

Section 232 Exclusions Process

For archival purposes, the rules outlining the former Section 232 Exclusions Process are listed below. These regulations were rescinded by the rule establishing the Section 232 Inclusions Process, which published in the Federal Register on May 2, 2025 (see above).

Federal Register, Vol. 83, No. 53, 12106-12112 (March 19, 2018)

Federal Register, Vol. 83, No. 176, 2018-19662 (September 11, 2018)

Federal Register Vol. 84, No. 111, 2019-12254 (June 10, 2019)

Federal Register Vol. 85, No. 240, 2020-27110 (December 14, 2020)

Federal Register Vol. 86, No. 234, 2021-26634 (December 09, 2021)

Federal Register Vol. 88, No. 165, 2023-58525 (August 28, 2023)

Federal Register Vol. 89, No. 98, 2024-10725 (May 20, 2024)

Section 232 Steel and Aluminum Ex Parte Communications

Pursuant to guidance from the Department, BIS was advised not to engage in any non-public communications, either oral or written, on the merits of a given Section 232 Exclusion Request or group or series of Section 232 Exclusion Requests. The Department would also publicly post a summary of any oral or written ex parte presentation involving the Section 232 Exclusions Process.

Review the posted ex parte communications.