Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2662 actions· ✨ 89 recent

A divided three-judge panel of the US Court of International Trade (CIT), in Slip Op. 26-47 (Court Nos. 26-01472 and 26-01606, decided 7 May 2026), held 2-1 that President Trump's Proclamation 11012 — which imposed a temporary 10% ad-valorem import surcharge under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 — exceeded statutory authority because the proclamation did not identify a "fundamental international payments problem" as defined by the 1974 Congress (the balance-of-trade or current-account deficit relied upon by the government is not the type of balance-of-payments deficit the statute contemplates). The court issued a permanent injunction prohibiting CBP from collecting Section 122 duties from the three prevailing plaintiff- importers and ordered refunds with statutory interest for duties already paid; it declined to issue a nationwide injunction. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) entered an administrative stay of the CIT injunction on 12 May 2026 pending appeal, and the CIT denied the government's own motion to stay its ruling on 20 May 2026; the CAFC appeal is now pending.

President Trump signed a Presidential Proclamation on 20 February 2026 invoking Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. § 2132) to impose a temporary 10% ad-valorem import surcharge on articles imported into the United States, effective 12:01 a.m. EST on 24 February 2026. The proclamation was issued within hours of the US Supreme Court's 20 February 2026 ruling in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, which held that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not authorize the president to set tariffs and vacated the IEEPA-based reciprocal-tariff regime previously in effect. The Section 122 surcharge is statutorily limited to 150 days (terminates 24 July 2026 absent Congressional extension) and the statute caps any such surcharge at 15% ad valorem. Goods qualifying as USMCA originating from Canada or Mexico are exempt; CAFTA-DR textile/apparel articles meeting specified rules of origin are exempt; and a substantial product-exception list excludes critical minerals, energy products, certain pharmaceuticals, electronics, vehicles, aerospace products, specified agricultural goods, and goods already subject to Section 232 duties (the Section 122 duty does not stack on Section 232).

President Trump signed Executive Order 14257 on 2 April 2025 declaring a national emergency over US trade deficits and imposing a baseline 10% ad-valorem tariff on imports from nearly all trading partners effective 5 April, with higher country-specific "reciprocal" rates effective 9 April. The rate schedule was constructed from a formula tied to bilateral goods-trade deficits and ranged from 10% (UK, Singapore, Brazil, Australia, others) through 20% (EU), 24% (Japan), 25% (Korea), 32% (Taiwan, Indonesia, Switzerland), 34% (China, later raised to 84% then 125% during the April escalation), 46% (Vietnam), 49% (Cambodia). Multiple subsequent EOs paused the country-specific rates for 90 days for non-China destinations on 9 April while keeping the 10% baseline, pending bilateral negotiations.

The Bureau of Industry and Security published a final rule on 6 June 2022 (effective 2 June 2022) consolidating corrections, clarifications, and substantive amendments to the series of EAR Russia/Belarus rules issued between February and May 2022. The most significant substantive change eliminates the EAR99 food and medicine carve-out for 146 footnote-3-designated military end-user entities already on the Entity List, subjecting all items subject to the EAR — including previously exempt food and medicine — to licensing requirements with a policy of denial for the FSB, SVR, and GRU. Additional provisions clarify luxury goods value thresholds, oil refinery sector controls, and civil telecommunications license review policy, and correct cross-references in the Foreign Direct Product Rules for Russia and Belarus.

The Bureau of Industry and Security created Supplement No. 5 to 15 CFR Part 746, establishing a new licensing requirement for the export, reexport, or in-country transfer of luxury goods to Russia, Belarus, and to Russian or Belarusian oligarchs and malign actors anywhere in the world, effective 11 March 2022. Covered goods span over 570 HTS-6 line items across categories including spirits and tobacco (above de minimis thresholds), clothing and leather goods (>$1,000 per item), jewelry and precious gemstones, watches (>$100), vehicles (>$25,000), seafood/caviar (>$100), art and antiques, and recreational vessels. The rule targets both bulk commercial exports to Russia and Belarus and personal luxury procurement by designated oligarchs worldwide, with a policy of denial for all such licence applications.