The USITC has opened a consultation on its responsibilities under Section 338.

A consultation on USITC responsibilities

The United States International Trade Commission, or USITC, has announced the opening of a public call for comments on its responsibilities under Section 338 . The notice describes the exercise as a call for comments and does not, in the available extract, present a draft regulation, a tariff determination or contentious proceedings .

The stated subject is confined to the Commission's responsibilities under Section 338 . The notice does not specify, in the available extract, the issues submitted for comment, their wording or their order of presentation . Nor does it set out the institutional positions, analyses or options on which submissions are sought .

The extract published by the USITC mentions neither a closing deadline, a timetable for reviewing submissions nor a date for publishing any follow-up to the consultation . It likewise provides no list of products, tariff headings, countries or sectors covered by the call for comments .

Section 338 remains the only statutory basis identified in the Commission's notice . The arrangements for electronic submission and the reference to the Commission's rules of practice are set out in the same notice .

EDIS and the reference to 19 CFR 201.8

The United States International Trade Commission's notice refers to electronic filing of comments through the EDIS system . It also cites the Commission's rules of practice under 19 CFR 201.8 .

The extract provided gives neither the title of a filing form nor an email address separate from EDIS . It does not reproduce the technical submission arrangements, any categories of admissible documents or the system's access parameters . The reference to EDIS is framed in the notice as an electronic filing route .

The reference to 19 CFR 201.8 appears in the same procedural cross-reference . The extract does not reproduce the text of that regulatory provision, or other provisions of Title 19 of the Code of Federal Regulations that may be cited in a full notice . It contains no separate discussion of the handling, publication or placing on the record of comments .

No filing deadline appears in the extract provided . No consultation timetable is reproduced . The research file contains no annex, form or technical document attached to the notice . These documentary limitations do not permit a procedural deadline or submission template to be identified from the extract alone .

The statutory framework of Section 338

Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 is codified at 19 U.S.C. 1338. The US proclamation concerning Canadian alcoholic beverages states that this provision empowers the President to impose duties on imports from a foreign country to offset the burden or disadvantage resulting from discrimination or unequal treatment affecting US commerce .

The presidential text presents this authority as including the imposition of duties on imports from the country concerned. It links the use of Section 338 to a finding that foreign practices discriminate against US commerce or impose an unequal burden upon it . The proclamation on alcoholic beverages contends that Canada disadvantages US alcoholic beverages without applying comparable restrictions to alcoholic beverages from other countries .

According to the proclamation, Canadian provinces and territories generally regulate the distribution and sale of spirits, wine, beer and other alcoholic beverages within their respective jurisdictions. It states that all provinces and territories control the wholesale trade in those products and that most operate a mixed public and private retail system .

The text also refers to the cessation, from March 2025, of purchases, distribution or retail sales of US alcoholic beverages by Canadian provinces and territories. It specifically cites measures taken by Ontario and Quebec on 4 March 2025 .

The Federal Register has published a document entitled « Temporary Suspension of Additional Duties To Offset Canadian Discrimination Against the Commerce of the United States With Respect to Alcoholic Beverages ». The publication concerns the temporary suspension of additional duties linked to alleged Canadian discrimination concerning alcoholic beverages .