Trade Expansion Act of 1962, Section 232

the President shall ... determine the nature and duration of the action that, in the judgment of the President, must be taken to adjust the imports of the article and its derivatives so that such imports will not threaten to impair the national security

- Trade Expansion Act of 1962, § 232(c), , 19 U.S.C. § 1862(c)

What Is the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, Section 232?

Section 232 is the national security authority, and it is sectoral rather than country-based. It targets categories of goods, not trading partners. The mechanism has two steps and both are on a clock. The Secretary of Commerce investigates whether imports of an article threaten to impair the national security and must report to the President within 270 days of initiating the investigation. The President then has 90 days after receiving that report to decide whether to concur and, if so, to determine the nature and duration of the action taken to adjust those imports. That procedural scaffolding is what makes Section 232 durable in a way IEEPA was not. The tariff rests on an agency record and a statutory finding rather than on an emergency declaration, and the statute names adjusting imports as the remedy rather than leaving it to be inferred from a list of verbs. It is also, as of mid-2026, the busiest tariff authority in use. Presidential proclamations issued between January and July 2026 adjusted imports across timber and lumber, processed critical minerals, semiconductors and semiconductor manufacturing equipment, pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical ingredients, aluminum, steel, copper, and commercial aircraft, jet engines and aircraft parts. Unlike the Section 122 surcharge, none of it sunsets on a statutory timer.