Who obtains political exemptions? An attention-based analysis of steel tariff exclusion requests

Vivienne Born (), Lee Warren Brown () and Dinesh Hasija ()
Additional contact information
Vivienne Born: Texas Woman’s University
Lee Warren Brown: Texas Woman’s University
Dinesh Hasija: James M. Hull College of Business, Augusta University

Journal of International Business Policy, 2024, vol. 7, issue 2, No 3, 166-180

Abstract: Abstract In this paper, we examine firm exclusion requests from the Section 232 tariffs placed on steel articles by President Donald Trump in March of 2018. The Presidential Proclamation that announced these new tariffs also authorized the creation of an exclusion process through which firms that use imported steel can request exemptions from the 2018 steel tariffs if no U.S. steel producer is able to supply the amount and type of steel demanded. Expanding the Attention-Based View (ABV) framework beyond the private sector, we suggest that decision-making by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the approval or denial of steel tariff exclusion requests is influenced by attention to elements of both domestic and international politics. Using a dataset of 163,522 exclusion requests, we find that political alignment and historical trade relationships with exporting countries significantly increase the Department of Commerce’s likelihood of approving exclusion requests. In addition, firm lobbying and the amount of steel requested for exclusion from tariffs have a significant negative impact on the likelihood of approval. This research extends our understanding of business–government interactions, incorporating not only economic and political influences but also the organizational environment, and highlights the importance of attention structures in explaining regulatory outcomes.

Keywords: Business–government relations; Trade policy; Tariffs; Administrative agencies; Bureaucracies; Attention-based view (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s42214-023-00180-1 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:joibpo:v:7:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1057_s42214-023-00180-1

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.palgrave.com/gp/journal/42214

DOI: 10.1057/s42214-023-00180-1

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of International Business Policy is currently edited by Sarianna Lundan, Ari Van Assche and Anne Hoekman

More articles in Journal of International Business Policy from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().