COMMERCE/TARIFFS/TRUMP PEOPLE/WILBUR ROSS: “The Trump administration has completed its review of a handful of the thousands of requests filed seeking exemptions from its steel and aluminum tariffs, granting exclusions to 42 types of imports, and denying 56 such requests. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced the decisions on Wednesday [6-20-18] morning in testimony delivered before the Senate Finance Committee, which was holding a hearing on the impact of the tariffs. The decisions cover only a small portion of the requests that have been submitted to Commerce. Mr. Ross said in his testimony that the department had received more than 20,000 requests for exclusions for steel and aluminum. Mr. Ross suggested that a much larger number of exclusions would be approved shortly. He said in his remarks that Commerce would be accelerating the approval process for exclusions by granting all requests that were properly submitted and that drew no objections during the comment period.”
-Jacob M. Schlesinger, “Wilbur Ross Announces First Results From 20,000 Tariff-Exclusion Requests,” The Wall Street Journal, June 20, 2018 9:54 am