The Tariff Times Daily: DOJ Appeals Order to Refund All IEEPA Tariff Duties
Continued struggles in court highlight the need for the American Protective Tariff League.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The Department of Justice is appealing the universal tariff refund order on the grounds that importers of record must sue to recover their money if it had previously reached final liquidation. On the other hand, Section 301 is under attack with the Supreme Court to decide as soon as June 11th the scope in which the President can use the Section 307 loophole to modify or terminate tariffs and other actions the USTR has launched to counter other countries unfair trade practices. This would severely hamper the President’s ability to address unfair trade practices in a rapid manner by narrowing the scope under which modifications on trade actions can take place after a successful 301 investigation. What this really means is the story thus far of the Administration. The President is determined to rebuild and protect American workers and industry, and yet the courts, the congress, and others are doing everything they can to stop him. While reindustrialization is well underway, the need for the American Protective Tariff League is becoming all the more clear, as a new generation of Protectionists advocates, writers, Congressmen, lawyers, and justices becomes all the more evident. Having a President like Donald Trump on your team is a huge win, but if he isn’t armed with a cadre of deeply knowledgeable Protectionist supporters across branches of government, such a President will be slowed down. This is the job of the league, to build this generation a cadre of Protectionists.
TODAY’S STORIES
Justice Department Will Appeal the Universal IEEPA Tariff Refund Order
The administration told the Court of International Trade it will appeal a judge’s order requiring blanket refunds of all duties collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, arguing the court cannot compel repayment of duties that have reached final liquidation absent a suit by the importer of record. The appeal moves the fight off the administrative track and into the appellate courts, where the boundaries of executive tariff authority will be drawn. For domestic producers, the stakes are continuity: a tariff wall that holds is one that firms can plan capital around.
USTR Opens a Section 301 Investigation Into Vietnam’s Intellectual Property Practices
USTR initiated a Section 301 probe into whether Vietnam’s failure to address long-standing concerns over IP protection and enforcement, spanning online piracy, counterfeit goods, border enforcement, and unlicensed software, is unreasonable or discriminatory and burdens U.S. commerce. The action follows Vietnam’s designation as a Priority Foreign Country in the 2026 Special 301 Report, with public comments due July 2. As the apparel and electronics belt shifts capacity into Vietnam, an enforcement tool that conditions that access on fair practice gives American producers a more level field.
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
Trump Approves Critical-Position Pay to Staff the Critical Minerals Push
A May 29 presidential memorandum authorizes the Office of Personnel Management to allocate up to 400 high-pay positions, with basic pay set as high as $400,000, to staff investment programs tied to national security, including efforts to build domestic critical minerals capacity. Industrial policy is only as strong as the people executing it; the memorandum treats the talent to run minerals and supply-chain programs as itself a strategic asset. It is a quiet but concrete signal that the administration intends to resource the reshoring agenda, not merely announce it.
ITC Issues Determinations on Tin Mill Products From China, Taiwan, and Turkey
The International Trade Commission published its determinations in the antidumping and countervailing duty proceeding on tin mill products from China, Taiwan, and Turkey. The timing matters: it lands as U.S. Steel moves to restart tin production at its Gary Works, the domestic capacity that import relief is meant to protect. Trade enforcement and a mill restart in the same window is the policy working as designed, shielding a producer at the moment it recommits to American production.
Federal Register / U.S. International Trade Commission
Supreme Court Could Decide on June 11 Whether to Take the Section 301 “Modification” Suit
The Section 301 case known as HMTX Industries v. United States is set for the Supreme Court’s June 11 conference, with importers urging quick action to clarify the limits of the executive’s authority to “modify” existing Section 301 tariffs after the administration launched dozens of new investigations under the statute this year. A curtailing of the administrations Section 301 powers would greatly hinder the
FEDERAL REGISTER WATCH
Notice: International Trade Commission — Final-phase antidumping and countervailing duty investigations scheduled on freight rail couplers and parts from the Czech Republic and India. A domestic injury finding would seat duties on a rail-component supply chain central to U.S. infrastructure buildout. Read notice
Notice: Department of Commerce — Antidumping and countervailing duty orders on citric acid and citrate salts from China continued after sunset review found dumping and injury would otherwise recur. Continuation keeps a long-standing shield in place for a domestic chemical producer base. Read notice
Notice: Department of Commerce — USMCA binational panel review requested on antidumping duties covering certain oil country tubular goods, filed by Maverick Tube Corporation. The case tests whether the agreement’s dispute mechanism preserves or erodes relief for American steel pipe producers. Read notice
Notice: International Trade Commission — Final-phase Section 337 investigation instituted on certain heavy machinery and components following a complaint. Section 337 remains a fast lane for excluding infringing imports and protecting domestic industrial equipment makers. Read notice
ON THE DOCKET
A sunset-review week: the ITC instituted a wall of five-year reviews on June 1, all opening a single comment window that closes in early August.
Aug 10 (new, closes in 70 days) — International Trade Commission: Five-year sunset reviews instituted on six order groups. Institution opens the window for domestic producers and trade associations to file the evidence that keeps these duties alive; failing to respond risks revocation and a return of underpriced imports. Methionine (France/Japan/Spain) | Cut-to-length carbon steel plate (China/Russia/Ukraine) | Potassium phosphate salts (China) | PVLT tires (S. Korea/Taiwan/Thailand/Vietnam) | Walk-behind lawn mowers (China/Vietnam) | Melamine (China)
ON THE HILL
HEARINGS & MARKUPS
Jun 4 — House Ways and Means: Hearing with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Tariff revenue, the IEEPA litigation, and the administration’s trade-and-tax agenda are all live questions for the secretary, making this the week’s marquee trade-adjacent appearance. Committee page
BILLS TO WATCH
HR 8542: Offshore Parity Act of 2026. The bill touches energy-development parity rather than trade directly, and its referral to the Water, Wildlife and Fisheries subcommittee signals a long road; worth tracking only for any domestic-energy supply-chain implications. Referred to subcommittee. View bill
COMMITTEE STATEMENTS
Committees quiet on trade this week.
TODAY IN AMERICAN HISTORY
On June 1, 1812, President James Madison sent his war message to Congress, opening a conflict whose British blockade severed America from foreign manufactures and spurred the homegrown industrial base that Henry Clay’s protective Tariff of 1816 was written to defend.
Tariff Times Daily is published by the American Protective Tariff League.