Aluminum Association calls for strong regional trade enforcement

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Aluminum Association president and CEO, Charles Johnson, has issued the following statement in response to President Trump’s Executive Order imposing 25% tariffs on all imports entering the United States through Canada:

“The United States is a powerhouse in aluminium production and fabrication against global competitors. That strength relies on imports of upstream aluminium, both smelted and scrap, from Canada. The Aluminum Association welcomes President Trump’s efforts to secure our borders and support American manufacturing by tackling unfair global trade. During his first term, President Trump was early to recognise the genuine threat that non-market actors pose to US manufacturing industries like ours. This led to more than $10 billion in industry investment since 2016. This investment requires an enormous amount of metal, much of which the US industry must import from within North America. To ensure that American aluminium wins the future, President Trump should exempt the aluminium metal supply needed for American manufacturers, while continuing to take every possible action at the US border against unfairly traded Chinese aluminium. This is consistent with action his administration wisely took during his first term. Then, we should work to keep unfairly traded aluminium out of the region by harmonising tariffs with our North American trading partners.”

The US aluminium industry is an essential material for the nation’s economy and defense industrial base, supplying everything from cars and trucks to fighter jets and tanks to the electric grid. In fact, aluminium is one of only 11 mineral commodities included on every government critical materials list, including the Department of Defense. Today, the industry generates $228 billion in economic output and supports 700,000 total American jobs. And since 2016, the US aluminium industry has made more than $10 billion in domestic manufacturing investments including the first new US rolling mills since 1980.

Thanks to robust domestic demand and coming investment, the US aluminium industry needs a steady and predictable supply of primary, secondary and scrap aluminium. Today, much of that metal comes from North American trading partners, especially Canada. The US industry sources around two-thirds of the primary aluminium it uses every year from Canada, since all US-based smelters, even running at full capacity, cannot produce nearly enough metal to meet demand. And about 90% of US scrap imports come from either Canada or Mexico. It would take billions of investment over decades to make the United States fully self-sufficient for its metal needs.

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