WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Trump administration has decided not to implement import restrictions on titanium sponge on grounds of national security, but to seek negotiations with Japan in order to ensure access to the material in case of emergency.
In a White House memorandum released Thursday night, U.S. President Donald Trump said he concurs in the commerce secretary's finding that titanium sponge imports "threaten to impair the national security" of the United States as defined under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.
In March last year, the U.S. Commerce Department launched a national security probe into titanium sponge imports, after similar investigations on imported steel and aluminum, as well as auto products. The Trump administration's repeated use of section 232 has drawn strong opposition from the domestic and international business community.
Noting that 94.4 percent of titanium sponge imports in 2018 came from Japan, Trump said in the memo that the United States has "an important security relationship" with Japan. According to data from the commerce department, imports of titanium sponge accounted for 68 percent of all titanium sponge consumed in the United States in 2018.
"The Secretary has advised me that measures apart from the adjustment of imports are more likely to be effective to address the threatened impairment of the national security," Trump said.
The U.S. president said he directed the secretary of defense and the secretary of commerce to form a working group, and invite their counterpart agencies in Japan to participate in discussions in order to ensure access to titanium sponge in the United States "for use for national defense and critical industries in an emergency."
Trump also directed the secretary of defense to increase access to titanium sponge for use for national defense and critical industries and to support domestic production capacity for the production of titanium sponge to meet national defense requirements.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said last year that titanium sponge has uses "in a wide range of defense applications, from helicopter blades and tank armor to fighter jet airframes and engines."
