New Section 338 tariffs on Canadian used cooking oil (UCO), a key renewable fuel feedstock, are creating uncertainty for biofuels producers. The policy shift has also raised questions about how the tariffs align with broader administration efforts to support domestic biofuel production and agricultural markets.
“There’s no question that if you wanted to support the domestic biofuels industry that you would not have included this, but they did,” Bracewell’s Josh Zive told Argus.
Zive also noted that legal challenges to the tariffs may face steeper hurdles than earlier trade actions because they were imposed under a different statutory authority.
“But any legal challenges to the latest tariffs may face a higher bar than those against the Liberation Day tariffs struck down earlier this year because Section 338 explicitly authorizes the executive branch to pursue tariffs,” Zive said.