The US Supreme Court declined to hear a US-based steel importer's bid to invalidate Section 232 tariffs based on the argument that Donald Trump exceeded his authority in imposing them.
Filed by Texas-based PrimeSource Building Products, the appeal targets a lower court's decision to uphold the 25 percent tariffs on steel derivative products such as nails and fasteners.
PrimeSource, along with Missouri-based Huttig Building Products and Omani company Oman Fasteners, argued that the US Congress never granted presidential powers over foreign trade.
In 2021, the US Court of International Trade struck down the steel derivatives tariffs, but the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed that decision this year, citing a 2022 ruling that presidents are authorized to impose "contingency-dependent" tariff increases to “fulfill their original national security objectives.”
PrimeSource appealed to the Supreme Court in July, while Oman Fasteners filed a separate appeal on October 20 that is currently pending. The Biden administration reportedly urged the Supreme Court to not take up the appeal.