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Aluminium/Bauxite

Column: US aluminum tariffs threaten scrap clash with European Union – by Andy Home (Reuters – June 9, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

US President Donald Trump’s move to double tariffs on aluminum imports heightens the risk of a full-blown scrap war with the European Union. Although they are supposed to be blanket tariffs with no exceptions or exemptions, there is one significant gap in the tariff wall.

Aluminum scrap is explicitly excluded on the grounds it constitutes a key raw material for US manufacturers. The Trump administration’s decision to lift aluminum tariffs to 25% effective the start of March has already caused US imports of recyclable material to rise.

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Carney calls U.S. 50% steel, aluminum tariffs ‘illegal’ – by Sean Previl (Global News – June 4, 2025)

https://globalnews.ca

Prime Minister Mark Carney called U.S. President Donald Trump‘s doubling of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports “illegal,” and said the federal government would take “some time” to consider its next steps.

Carney made the comments Wednesday hours after Trump’s executive order, which he signed Tuesday, went into effect for numerous countries including Canada, whose steel and aluminum industries demanded an “immediate” government response.

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Quebec premier calls new Trump tariff threats on steel and aluminum ‘completely unjustified’ – by Annabelle Olivier (CBC News Montreal – June 01, 2025)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/

Tariff increase from 25 to 50% ‘will be catastrophic for our industry,’ says steel producers association

Quebec Premier François Legault is calling U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest tariff threat on Canadian steel and aluminum producers “completely unjustified.”

He made the remark in a post on X, after Trump announced his intention to double the tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to 50 per cent next Wednesday. “If he goes ahead with this tariff increase, it will harm our economy, as well as the American economy,” Legault wrote in French.

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Column: US aluminum smelters vie with Big Tech for scarce power – by Andy Home (Reuters – May 22, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

It’s forty-five years since anyone built a primary aluminum smelter in the United States. When Alumax fired up the Mt Holly plant in South Carolina in 1980, the country’s tally of smelters rose to 33 with combined annual capacity of almost five million metric tons of aluminum.

Today that number has shrunk to six. Two are fully curtailed. Two, including Mt Holly, are running below capacity. Annual production has shrunk to 700,000 tons. Emirates Global Aluminium hopes to reverse the tide with a new plant in Oklahoma. It joins Century Aluminum, which was awarded federal funding by the Joe Biden administration for a new “green” low-carbon smelter somewhere in the Ohio/Mississippi River Basins.

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Guinea repossess 51 mining licences, information minister says – by Maxwell Akalaare Adombila(Reuters – May 16, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

Guinea’s military government has taken back 51 mining licences as it steps up efforts to repossess claims or concessions where operations have either not been launched or where it says permits are being underutilised, its information minister said.

Reuters first reported that the government planned to cancel the licences on Thursday. Fana Soumah announced in a televised address late Thursday night that Guinea’s military ruler Mamady Doumbouya had signed the repossession decree, which covers bauxite, gold, diamond, graphite and iron concessions.

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Kitimat has seen it all – by Nancy Macdonald (Globe and Mail – April 25, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

In this northern B.C. port town, voters used to booms and busts are now caught between both at once

Kitimat’s construction boom is tapering off. The Help Wanted signs that used to decorate businesses are coming down. And hotel rooms in the northern B.C. port city are no longer packed with construction workers, as the process of building a new, $18-billion gas terminal winds down at the harbour.

But judging by the abundance of $80,000 pickup trucks, the local economy is still going gangbusters. Residents here have learned to be cautiously optimistic in the face of economic threat, and also restrained in their enthusiasm when things are looking up. Right now, they’re having to do both at the same time.

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Trump’s steel, aluminum tariff impacts start to build 1 month in – by Ian Bickis (Canadian Press/Global News – April 21, 2025)

https://globalnews.ca/

The costs and chaos being caused by metal tariffs are starting to build up after a month in effect, and there’s little hope they’ll be removed in the foreseeable future. U.S. President Donald Trump imposed 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum on March 12, raising significant concerns for a sector that exported around $35 billion of metal to the U.S. last year.

It’s still not clear how much higher the tariffs will push consumer prices and translate into reduced demand, but industry insiders say the risks are building. The aluminum tariffs alone add about $3,000 to the cost of an F150 truck, Aluminum Association of Canada CEO Jean Simard said. Add in the steel tariffs, and auto tariffs, and it means about $12,000 more in input costs.

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Quebec’s aluminum product producers are feeling the sting of Trump’s tariffs – by Nicolas Van Praet (Globe and Mail – March 22, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

There are roughly 1,700 companies shaping aluminum into components or finished products in Quebec, cranking out everything you can think of with the malleable metal – from ambulance doors to window frames. Half of them are based in the greater Montreal area. And all of them have one major problem at the moment: Donald Trump.

Industry groups have been warning for weeks of the pain to come from the U.S. President’s 25-per-cent tariffs on Canadian aluminum and steel, which came into effect March 12. But on the factory floors of Quebec’s aluminum-product makers, and in the hallways and offices of manufacturers where net profit margins are typically in the single digits and payrolls rarely tally more than 200 employees, those warnings have become reality.

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Quebec aluminum towns aren’t feeling the sting of 25 per cent U.S. tariffs – by Joe Bongiorno (The Canadian Press – March 17, 2025)

https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/

MONTREAL – Mayors of Quebec aluminum towns say they are confident their regions can withstand the 25 per cent tariffs imposed on the metal by U.S. President Donald Trump, with many saying it’s business as usual.

Layoffs aren’t expected at Aluminerie Alouette in Sept-Îles, Que., a major aluminum producer with some 950 employees, says the town’s mayor, Denis Miousse. The company, which describes itself as the biggest aluminum smelter on the continent, can find new export markets if demand weakens in the U.S., he said.

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Leonardo DiCaprio criticises Australian government for approving WA mine expansion – by Bridget McArthur (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – March 12, 2025)

https://www.abc.net.au/news/

Leonardo DiCaprio has thrown his support behind West Australian activists who are angry at the federal government for green-lighting a mine expansion in an area home to endangered species.

In February Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek gave approval to South32 to clear up to 3,855 hectares of native vegetation in WA’s Northern Jarrah Forests as part of a mine expansion near the town of Boddington.

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Trump threatens to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum after Ontario electricity surcharge – by Antoine Trépanier and Stephanie Taylor (National Post – March 11, 2025)

https://nationalpost.com/

The latest outburst from the American president appears to have been triggered by tariffs imposed by Ontario Premier Doug Ford

OTTAWA — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he will impose a 50 per cent tariff on Canadian steel and aluminum, up from his previous 25 per cent threat, starting on Wednesday. If Canada does not reverse its retaliation and “immediately” remove its dairy tariffs, he said he will “significantly” increase tariffs on cars coming from Canada to the United States on April 2.

“(That would) permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada,” the president wrote on his Truth Social platform.

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Tariff battle set to escalate this week with U.S. levies on Canadian steel and aluminum – by Clare O’Hara (Globe and Mail – March 10, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The U.S. says 25-per-cent tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum are still set to take effect on Wednesday, a move that would escalate the trade war between the two countries that President Donald Trump launched last week.

Mr. Trump initiated 25-per-cent tariffs on all Canadian goods last Tuesday, with energy and critical minerals facing a 10-per-cent tariff. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau quickly retaliated with 25-per-cent tariffs on $30-billion worth of imported goods from the U.S., rising to $155-billion if the U.S. levies aren’t lifted.

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The country that helped build Quebec’s aluminum industry now threatens its survival – by Frédérik-Xavier D. Plante (Globe and Mail – February 18, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The Arvida aluminum bridge, completed in 1950 as the first of its kind anywhere, stands as a tribute to a symbiotic relationship. Crossing a branch of the Saguenay River, its elegant arch faces the Shipshaw II Power Station.

This is no coincidence, says Lucie Morisset, Canada Research Chair in Urban Heritage, given the link between the aluminum industry and the abundant hydroelectric power in Quebec. “It’s not the labour that determines the production costs of aluminum, it’s not even the bauxite,” she said, referring to the material from which aluminum is extracted. “It’s the energy costs to produce it.”

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In Saguenay, Canada’s aluminum valley, anxiety over planned U.S. tariffs is palpable – by Frédérik-Xavier D. Plante (Globe and Mail – February 12, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Jean-Marc Crevier, a municipal councillor in Saguenay, Que., can feel his constituents’ anxiety. Mr. Crevier’s district encompasses Rio Tinto’s sprawling, century-old Arvida aluminum smelter. It is one of four such facilities – in addition to one refinery – in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region, which produces a third of all Canadian aluminum thanks to abundant, cheap hydroelectric power.

In Saguenay, U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to impose 25-per-cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, starting on March 12, is the talk of the town. “When I go to the grocery store, I take almost twice the time just talking with my people,” Mr. Crevier said in an interview. “Everyone talks about it.”

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Trump slaps 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports ‘without exceptions’ – by Darren Major and Catharine Tunney (CBC News Politics – February 10, 2025)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/

President said ‘I don’t mind,’ when asked about countries retaliating

U.S. President Donald Trump followed through on recent threats Monday evening and signed orders imposing 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports — including from Canada.

The tariffs are scheduled to take effect March 12. This guarantees a frantic few weeks as Canada and other countries scramble to be exempted from a series of trade penalties threatened by Trump — including the economy-wide tariffs he has paused but is still threatening to reimpose across North America.

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