Overview
On April 22, 2025, the US Department of Commerce (Commerce) announced that it was initiating an investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (Section 232) to determine the national security effects of imports of certain truck and truck parts. On the same day, Commerce announced that it would also be initiating a separate Section 232 investigation into imports of processed critical minerals and their derivative products.
These are the latest in a string of Section 232 investigations that are being conducted by Commerce. Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 provides the President with broad authority to impose trade measures following an affirmative determination by the Secretary of Commerce that certain imports threaten to impair US national security. During his first term in office, President Trump launched multiple Section 232 investigations, including against imports of steel and aluminum, titanium sponge, automobiles, vanadium, uranium, and transformers. Although these investigations ultimately led to the imposition of a 25% tariff on most steel imports and a 10% tariff on most aluminum imports, the other proceedings did not lead to similar duties. However, in the past several weeks, President Trump has indicated his intent to use this statutory authority to impose tariffs more aggressively.
Since the inauguration in January 2025, Commerce has initiated the following Section 232 investigations, most of which were in response to executive orders from President Trump:
- Copper and Derivative Products: Commerce initiated an investigation into copper in all its forms (including, but not limited to, raw mined copper, copper concentrates, refined copper, copper alloys, scrap copper) and derivative products on March 10, 2025, following an executive order issued by President Trump on February 25, 2025. Comments were due on April 1, 2025. No action has been announced yet.
- Timber and Lumber, and Derivative Products: This investigation was initiated on March 10, 2025, on timber, lumber, and their derivative products in response to an executive order issued by President Trump. While neither the notice of initiation nor the Executive Order specifically defined "derivative products," the Executive Order references paper products, furniture, and cabinetry as examples of derivative products. As with the copper investigation, comments were due on April 1, 2025, and no action has been taken yet.
- Semiconductors and Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment: On April 1, 2025, Commerce announced that it was initiating a Section 232 investigation into imports of semiconductors, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and their derivative products. According to the Federal Register notice requesting comments on this issue, the scope includes, among other things, semiconductor substrates and bare wafers, legacy chips, leading-edge chips, microelectronics, and SME components. Secretary of Commerce Lutnick has already stated that tariffs on semiconductors are likely to come "in a month or two." Comments on this investigation are due on May 10, 2025.
- Pharmaceutical and Pharmaceutical Ingredients: This investigation was initiated on April 1, 2025, with comments due on May 10, 2025 and covers imports of pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical ingredients, and their derivative products. According to the Federal Register notice soliciting comments, this includes both finished generic and non-generic drug products, medical countermeasures, critical inputs such as active pharmaceutical ingredients and key starting materials, and derivative products of those items.
- Medium and Heavy-Duty Trucks and Truck Parts: Commerce initiated a Section 232 investigation on April 22, 2025 into the national security effects of imports of medium-duty trucks, heavy-duty trucks, and medium- and heavy-duty truck parts, as well as their derivatives. Comments are due on May 16, 2025. Unlike other Section 232 investigations, there was no executive order directing Commerce to initiate this investigation or statements from President Trump indicating that he would target these products. Although there was a prior Section 232 investigation into automobiles, that had only covered light trucks.
- Processed Critical Minerals and Derivative Products: Pursuant to an executive order issued by President Trump, Commerce initiated this investigation into processed critical minerals on April 22, 2025. At this point, the covered critical minerals appear to include aluminum, antimony, arsenic, barite, beryllium, bismuth, cerium, cesium, chromium, cobalt, dysprosium, erbium, europium, fluorspar, gadolinium, gallium, germanium, graphite, hafnium, holmium, indium, iridium, lanthanum, lithium, lutetium, magnesium, manganese, neodymium, nickel, niobium, palladium, platinum, praseodymium, promethium, rhodium, rubidium, ruthenium, samarium, scandium, tantalum, tellurium, terbium, thulium, tin, titanium, tungsten, uranium, vanadium, ytterbium, yttrium, zinc, and zirconium. According to the Federal Register notice, the investigation will cover critical minerals that have undergone activities that occur after the ore is extracted through its conversion into a metal, metal powder, or a master alloy. In addition, "derivative products" include semi-finished goods (such as semiconductor wafers, anodes, and cathodes) as well as final products (such as permanent magnets, motors, electric vehicles, batteries, smartphones, microprocessors, radar systems, wind turbines and their components, and advanced optical devices). Comments are due on May 16, 2025. According to the executive order, Commerce must submit its final report within 180 days, which is shorter than the 270 days allotted to the agency under the statute.
In addition to the investigations listed above, President Trump has modified the existing Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum by increasing the tariff rate on aluminum products to be 25%, while terminating the exclusion process as well as any alternative arrangements the US had entered into with other countries. He has also imposed a 25% tariff on automobiles and automobile parts, relying upon the results of the Section 232 investigation from his first term.
Although Commerce has 270 days under the statute to complete a Section 232 investigation and submit a report to the President, this administration has indicated that it would likely act within a shorter timeframe for a number of these recently initiated proceedings. Moreover, President Trump had already indicated that he intends to impose tariffs on many of the products that are now subject to these investigations, suggesting that in some cases the administration has a clear picture of how these investigations will end. The fact that many of the products covered by these Section 232 investigations were exempted from the reciprocal tariffs issued on April 2, 2025, also suggests that the Administration already has in mind the imposition of tariffs on these products.
For more information on these Section 232 investigations, assistance with submitting a comment in any of the proceedings, or questions on how any potential trade action may impact your business, please contact a member of Steptoe's Trade Policy or Trade Remedies practices.
