[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 22 (Thursday, February 4, 2021)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 8265-8266]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-02490]



[[Page 8263]]

Vol. 86

Thursday,

No. 22

February 4, 2021

Part II





The President





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Proclamation 10144--Adjusting Imports of Aluminum Into the United 
States
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  Federal Register / Vol. 86 , No. 22 / Thursday, February 4, 2021 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

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                Proclamation 10144 of February 1, 2021

                
Adjusting Imports of Aluminum Into the United 
                States

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                1. Proclamation 10139 of January 19, 2021 (Adjusting 
                Imports of Aluminum Into the United States), amended 
                Proclamation 9704 (Adjusting Imports of Aluminum Into 
                the United States), as amended, with respect to tariffs 
                on certain imports of aluminum articles proclaimed 
                under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, as 
                amended (19 U.S.C. 1862). Proclamation 10139 provides 
                that those amendments will not take effect until 12:01 
                a.m. on February 3, 2021.

                2. I consider it is necessary and appropriate in light 
                of our national security interests to maintain, at this 
                time, the tariff treatment applied to aluminum article 
                imports from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) under 
                Proclamation 9704, as amended, as they are currently in 
                effect as of this date. Accordingly, and as provided 
                for in clause (6) of Proclamation 10139, I am 
                terminating the modifications contained in that 
                proclamation before they take effect.

                3. Proclamation 9704 applied tariffs to help ensure the 
                economic viability of the domestic aluminum industry--
                an industry that the Secretary of Commerce had 
                previously identified as essential to our critical 
                industries and national defense. Because robust 
                domestic aluminum production capacity is essential to 
                meet our current and future national security needs, 
                Proclamation 9704 aimed to revive idled aluminum 
                facilities, open closed smelters and mills, preserve 
                necessary skills, and maintain or increase domestic 
                production by reducing United States reliance on 
                foreign producers.

                4. In my view, the available evidence indicates that 
                imports from the UAE may still displace domestic 
                production, and thereby threaten to impair our national 
                security. Proclamation 9704 authorized the Secretary of 
                Commerce to grant exclusions from the aluminum tariffs 
                based on specific national security considerations or 
                if specific imported aluminum articles were determined 
                not to be produced sufficiently in the United States, 
                such that the imports would not diminish domestic 
                production. Tellingly, there have been 33 such 
                exclusion requests for aluminum imported from the UAE, 
                covering 587,007 metric tons of articles, and the 
                Secretary of Commerce has denied 32 of those requests, 
                covering 582,007 metric tons. This indicates the large 
                degree of overlap between imports from the UAE and what 
                our domestic industry is capable of producing.

                5. Since the tariff on aluminum imports was imposed, 
                such imports substantially decreased, including a 25 
                percent reduction from the UAE, and domestic aluminum 
                production increased by 22 percent through 2019, before 
                the coronavirus pandemic began. In light of that 
                history, I believe that maintaining the tariff is 
                likely to be more effective in protecting our national 
                security than the untested quota described in 
                Proclamation 10139.

                6. Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as 
                amended, authorizes the President to adjust the imports 
                of an article and its derivatives that are being 
                imported into the United States in such quantities or 
                under such circumstances as to threaten to impair the 
                national security.

                7. Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (19 
                U.S.C. 2483), authorizes the President to embody in the 
                Harmonized Tariff Schedule of

[[Page 8266]]

                the United States the substance of statutes affecting 
                import treatment, and actions thereunder, including the 
                removal, modification, continuance, or imposition of 
                any rate of duty or other import restriction.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of 
                the United States of America, by the authority vested 
                in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United 
                States of America, including section 232 of the Trade 
                Expansion Act of 1962, as amended, section 301 of title 
                3, United States Code, and section 604 of the Trade Act 
                of 1974, as amended, do hereby proclaim that 
                Proclamation 10139, including the Annex, is revoked.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                first day of February, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand twenty-one, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and forty-
                fifth.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2021-02490
Filed 2-3-21; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3295-F1-P