Lamb Safeguard Tie Lets the President Choose Either Injury Finding
The USITC lamb safeguard tie lets the President adopt either injury finding, while only the affirmative commissioners vote on remedy recommendations.
In this analysis 4 sections
The lamb safeguard case is moving to a remedy hearing after the USITC's 3-3 injury vote on November 13, but the President can adopt either group's injury determination. Three commissioners' rejection of the injury case survives into the presidential decision even as the other three prepare recommendations for relief.
That makes the November 23 remedy brief a consequential filing for counsel representing an importer already participating as a party. Counsel should address the terms of possible relief while expressly maintaining the client's opposition to the underlying injury finding. Preparing a conditional remedy proposal need not concede that the President should accept the affirmative injury determination.
The investigation covers fresh, chilled or frozen lamb meat, excluding live animals and mutton. Its published schedule sets the remedy hearing for December 1. The Commission says its report will reach the President by January 11, 2027. Neither the tied vote nor those dates establishes a new tariff, quota or effective date.