Decisions on Exclusions from Section 232 Tariffs Were Not Transparent and Based on Incomplete and Inaccurate Information

This is our final report on the audit of the Bureau of Industry and Security’s (BIS’s) and the International Trade Administration’s (ITA’s) processes and procedures for reviewing and adjudicating product exclusion requests for aluminum and steel tariffs, as prescribed by Presidential Proclamations 9704 and 9705, respectively, under the authority of Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended. Our audit objectives were to determine whether (1) BIS and ITA adhere to the processes and procedures in place to review Section 232 product exclusion requests and (2) exclusion request decisions are reached in a consistent and transparent manner. We found that (I) U.S. companies were denied exclusion requests based on incomplete and contradictory information and (II) the Section 232 exclusion request review process lacked transparency. We also noted separate matters for BIS and ITA attention with respect to timeliness, completion, and communications regarding exclusion requests within an “Other Matters” section of this report.