U.S. Sens. Pat Toomey (R-PA), Doug Jones (D-AL), and Tom Carper (D-DE) wrote Monday to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to request a formal review of the tariff exclusion process administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
In their letter, the senators request that GAO investigate questions about the current process for exclusion petitions, including improving the pace of review, the cost to taxpayers, the technical support provided to petitioners and how exclusion approvals are determined.
The Commerce Department had received 49,301 exclusion petitions, including resubmissions, by the end of the October and had issued decisions for 16,567, or 34 percent, of them.
Following a section 232 investigation initiated by the Secretary of Commerce into whether steel and aluminum imports impair U.S. national security, President Trump proclaimed 25 percent tariffs on steel imports and 10 percent tariffs on aluminum imports. The tariffs went into effect for most countries on March 23. On May 31, President Trump announced that Mexico and Canada would be included in the tariffs.
“Members of Congress and U.S. businesses have repeatedly raised concerns about the pace, transparency, and fairness of the section 232 steel and aluminum exclusion process,” the senators wrote. “For example, the Senate Finance Committee and industry groups have called on Commerce to clarify the criteria it uses to determine whether to grant an exclusion from the tariffs. In July 2018, at a House Ways and Means subcommittee hearing, businesses vocalized concerns about the backlog of exclusion applications and the challenges small businesses have faced in accessing adequate resources to navigate the exclusion process.”