On April 15, 2026, the U.S. Court of International Trade (“CIT”) ordered U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) and the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) to sit for depositions in a case filed by an importer seeking refunds of tariffs imposed under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (“Section 232”).
The importer and plaintiff, G&H Diversified Manufacturing LP, originally filed a complaint seeking to overturn CBP’s denial of G&H’s exclusion request for steel tubes imported in 2020. A major issue in the case is whether CBP made a preliminary classification decision related to G&H’s steel tubes prior to BIS’s exclusion determination.
As a result, the CIT ordered the depositions of CBP and BIS related to the two agencies’ role in evaluating Section 232 steel exclusion requests. In its order, the CIT limited the scope of discovery originally sought by G&H, but still ensured that G&H is entitled to obtain certain relevant documents and communications between the two agencies, the process for making determinations on the relevant exclusion requests, and certain policies, procedures, and training documents used by BIS. This is the first time the CIT has ordered depositions in a case related to the steel Section 232 exclusions process.
The Husch Blackwell International Trade and Supply Chain team will continue to monitor and provide updates on this case as they become available. If you have company specific questions or concerns, please contact your Husch Blackwell attorney.