The ruling stemmed from a rare and potentially powerful type of trade case filed in May by Whirlpool Inc. Whirlpool’s petition — just the latest in a series of claims of unfair trade practices against two South Korean manufacturers, Samsung Electronic Co Ltd. and LG Electronics Inc. — says the companies had hopscotched their production facilities around the world to evade duties the United States had imposed on specific countries.
Rather than bring a typical trade complaint — like those Whirlpool successfully brought twice before, claiming that Samsung and LG were “dumping” their products at unlawfully low prices — Whirlpool chose to file a rarely used type of case that could cover all foreign countries and will leave the ultimate decision to President Trump. In this kind of “safeguard” case, the president has broad authority to impose barriers, including a sweeping tariff, if the United States finds that manufacturers were harmed by rising imports.
The president has frequently discussed using tariffs to protect American manufacturers from cost-cutting rivals. But apart from the routine anti-dumping and subsidy cases that crop up in every administration, Mr. Trump himself has yet to enact any broad measure.
