Korea International Trade Association submits opinion to U.S. Department of Commerce, seeking exemption from import restrictions - Korean media

The Korea International Trade Association (KITA) has published opinions from the Korean trade industry regarding the response based on Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, which stipulates that minerals and their derivatives pose a threat to the national security of the United States.
On the 16th (local time), the government submitted a written opinion to the U.S. Department of Commerce, which stated, "Section 232 allows the administration to impose import restrictions, such as additional tariffs, if the import of certain products poses a threat to the national security of the United States."
The content of the document is as follows: The United States will begin an investigation into whether imports of minerals and their derivatives pose a security threat in accordance with Section 232 on April 22, and will continue to hold a stakeholder meeting until May 16.
The committee had been gathering opinions from South Korean companies about the issue, and stressed in its opinion that minerals and their derivatives from South Korea do not pose a threat to the national security of the United States and should therefore be exempt from Section 232 measures.
South Korea is the chair of the Mineral Security Partnership (MSP), a U.S.-led consortium, and explains that it is contributing to diversifying and stabilizing mineral supply chains among member countries, including the United States.
The committee also called for a rational narrowing of the scope of broadly designated derivative products, such as electric vehicles (EVs), cathode materials, and smartphones. These will no longer be subject to U.S. industry restrictions.
It is possible that new items will be added at the request of the industry, making the scope of regulations less transparent.