31 October 2023 – US Section 232 tariffs have once again been upheld as lawful by the US Supreme Court. And earnings figures in the United States come as a positive surprise at the start of the reporting period.
US Section 232 Tariffs on steel and aluminum firmly in place
Once again, a steel importer in the United States has failed in a challenge to the Trump administration’s 2018 Section 232 Tariffs in the US Supreme Court.
The plaintiff company had appealed to the Supreme Court after a lower court had already ruled that the punitive tariffs on steel products issued by then-President Donald Trump were lawful.
Supreme Court rulings already clear beforehand
Back in March, the Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the 2018 tariffs by a group of U.S.-based steel importers. In 2022, the justices rejected a separate challenge by steel companies to Trump’s 2018 decision to double tariffs on steel imports from Turkey, also on national security grounds.
The decisions of the U.S. courts show once again that Section 232 Tariffs are a tried and tested means in the United States of enforcing national interests, even though other countries and the World Trade Organization (WTO) have opposed them.
Reporting season USA: earnings figures surprise on the upside
The mid-term results of the U.S. reporting season for the third quarter have so far been mostly positive. A good three quarters of S&P 500 companies have posted higher quarterly profits than expected. Compared to the previous year, the average profit growth so far is almost nine percent. Before the reporting season, analysts had only expected the companies listed in the index to post a profit increase of 1.5 percent – now expectations are 4.5 percent.
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