Kingsfield · Research · International Trade & Sanctions

What statute lets the President raise tariffs on imports for national-security reasons?

Published 2026-06-23 · U.S. federal law

Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act lets the President adjust imports of an article after the Secretary of Commerce finds it is entering in such quantities or under such circumstances as to threaten to impair the national security.

The answer

The Commerce finding

19 U.S.C. § 1862 directs the Secretary of Commerce to investigate the effect of imports on national security and to report findings to the President; if the Secretary finds an article is imported in such quantities or under such circumstances as to threaten to impair the national security, the President may take action to adjust those imports.

Presidential action

The President may concur or not concur with the Secretary's finding and, if concurring, determine the nature and duration of the action that must be taken to adjust the imports so they will not threaten national security. The statute sets time limits for the Secretary's report and the President's decision.

The judged input

What the AI drafted

Submitted to the judge

This is an excerpt from a draft customs and tariffs opinion — the kind of work product a lawyer generates with a legal-AI drafting tool, then has to stand behind. Kingsfield does not write it; it rules on the citations the model put in it. This draft cites two authorities; one of them is wrong.

AI draft excerpt — customs and tariffs opinion

The Company should expect that tariff relief on imported steel inputs depends on the national-security pathway, not the trade-remedy pathway. Under 19 U.S.C. § 1862, the Secretary of Commerce investigates whether an article is imported in such quantities or under such circumstances as to threaten to impair the national security, and the President may then act to adjust those imports. We note that the tariffs imposed on the Company's steel were levied under 19 U.S.C. § 1671, the national-security tariff authority. We advise treating the underlying proclamation as the operative measure.

The judge ruled on every citation as the draft used it — it accepted 19 U.S.C. § 1862 and rejected 19 U.S.C. § 1671. Here is why.

The verdict

How Kingsfield ruled

Ruled 2026-06-23

Each citation in the draft above was submitted to the Kingsfield judge and ruled against the primary-law corpus — Accept, Reject, or Inconclusive, per citation. These are live verdicts, not editorial. Each card shows the claim the draft made and the verbatim authority the verdict was rendered against.

Accept19 U.S.C. § 1862

The draft claimed: After the Secretary of Commerce finds an article is being imported in such quantities or under such circumstances as to threaten to impair the national security, the President may take action to adjust the imports of that article.

“§ 1862 In the course of any investigation conducted under this subsection, the Secretary shall—”

Cite found; proposition supported by the cited text.

Reject19 U.S.C. § 1671

The draft claimed: Section 1671 is the national-security tariff authority under which the President adjusts imports that threaten to impair the national security.

Cite found, but the cited text does not support the claim. 19 U.S.C. 1671 imposes countervailing duties to offset foreign subsidies and is not a national-security authority; the national-security tariff power is at 19 U.S.C. 1862. Regenerate with the correct authority.

Run your own work through the judge

Kingsfield rules on every citation, quote, and proposition your AI produces, against the primary law we cover. Accept, Reject, or Inconclusive, per citation, with a signed Audit Capsule.

Connect the Judge See the architecture

This page is legal information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. The draft shown is an illustration of a typical AI answer; verdicts reflect the cited authority in the Kingsfield corpus as of the ruling date shown above.