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Aluminium/Bauxite

OPINION: Trump’s aluminum tariffs have Glencore’s prints all over them – by Konrad Yakabuski (Globe and Mail – August 12, 2020)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

When President Donald Trump was elected in 2016, the U.S. primary aluminum industry was on its deathbed. Undercut by Canadian producers that relied on cheap and clean hydroelectricity to power modern smelters, and unable to compete with subsidized Chinese imports, the U.S. industry had shrunk to five plants operating below capacity.

Tariffs Mr. Trump imposed on Canadian raw aluminum imports in 2018 bought the U.S. industry some time, but not enough to fix its fundamentals. When the tariffs were lifted last year – as part of a good-faith gesture aimed at securing ratification of the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement – it was only a matter of time before U.S. aluminum producers began to clamour for their renewal.

Last week, Mr. Trump answered their pleas, proving that the most protectionist U.S. president in modern history never really intended to honour the spirit or the letter of the USMCA, which went into force barely a month ago.

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Aluminum tariffs could worsen can shortage – Glenda Luymes (Vancouver Sun – August 9, 2020)

https://vancouversun.com/

B.C. brewers don’t want the Canadian government to respond with retaliatory tariffs on aluminum cans

The U.S. government’s decision to impose tariffs on Canadian aluminum has B.C. beverage makers concerned it could make cans more costly during an existing shortage.

Local craft brewers told Postmedia they haven’t been affected by can shortages that have made some American soft drinks difficult to find during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they are concerned it could become an issue in the future.

“It is scary because the effect it could have is enormous,” said Iain Hill, owner and brewmaster at Strange Fellows Brewing in Vancouver. “It would be like someone saying we’re going to turn off the water for three days a week. You can’t do without it.”

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Ontario ‘disappointed’ in U.S. decision to impose tariffs on aluminum products – by Katherine DeClerq (CTV News Toronto – August 6, 2020)

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/

TORONTO — The Progressive Conservative government says they are disappointed that the United States has imposed tariffs on imports of aluminum products and claims that it will “have a damaging impact on Ontario businesses, workers and consumers.”

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that his government plans on imposing a 10-per-cent tariff on Canadian aluminum imports as of Aug. 16.

He claimed that Canada has been taking advantage of the United States and that American aluminum business has been “decimated.”

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Canada to retaliate with $3.6-billion in measures against U.S. aluminum tariffs – by Steven Chase and Adrian Morrow (Globe and Mail – August 7, 2020)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The Canadian government will impose retaliatory measures valued at $3.6-billion on the United States in response to new American tariffs on Canadian aluminum announced by President Donald Trump this week.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said the retaliatory tariffs will take effect in 30 days, after Ottawa consults Canadians on precisely which American products to target.

Canada is releasing a list of possible targets, many of which include aluminum, such as American-made washing machines.

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U.S. to reimpose tariff on some Canadian aluminum products, Trump says – by Beatrice Britneff (Global News – August 6, 2020)

https://globalnews.ca/

The United States is reimposing a tariff on some Canadian aluminum products, Donald Trump announced on Thursday.

A statement from the White House later confirmed the Trump administration reinstated a 10-per cent tariff “on imports of non-alloyed unwrought aluminum from Canada.”

A senior official told Global News the Canadian government is working behind the scenes to try to prevent the new tariff before it takes effect.

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Revival of North American economy will negate need for aluminum tariffs, Trudeau tells Trump – by James McCarten (Canadian Press/Globe and Mail – July 14, 2020)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged U.S. President Donald Trump to think twice Monday before imposing new tariffs on Canadian aluminum, saying the sector is emerging from the pandemic-induced production stance that prompted the White House to consider such measures in the first place.

Mr. Trudeau, who said in a news conference he had spoken to the U.S. President earlier in the day, told him that with the North American economy getting back up to speed, Canada’s aluminum smelters would soon be back producing value-added specialty products for the U.S. auto sector.

The spectre of new tariffs emerged last month after Canadian producers, unable to shut down production and with their usual customers hamstrung by the impact of COVID-19, were forced to make a more generic form of aluminum and ship it to warehouses in the U.S.

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Calls for tariffs on Canadian aluminum come with a Glencore twist – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – July 11, 2020)

https://financialpost.com/

The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement was supposed to mark a new era in trade relations between Ottawa and Washington. Instead it came into force on July 1 overshadowed by the Trump Administration’s threats to re-impose tariffs on Canadian aluminum.

While political analysts have speculated about whether the tough talk, which began last month, may have had more to do with re-election campaigning than economic policy, inside aluminum industry circles the possibility of new tariffs has raised eyebrows for other reasons.

That’s because one of the world’s largest commodities players, Switzerland-based Glencore Plc — which mines nickel, copper, zinc and thermal coal in Canada and has partnerships worth billions of dollars with some of this country’s largest pension plans — is a major investor in a Chicago-based aluminum producer closely tied to the tariff fight.

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Of cars and cans: US aluminum and the pandemic – by Sarah Baltic (SP Global – July 7, 2020)

https://www.spglobal.com/en/

The coronavirus pandemic has obliterated global metals demand as one of the main end uses, automotive applications, has seen major disruptions to the supply chain.

The US metals market, in particular, saw the removal of an estimated 33,000 vehicles per day from production as all major auto producers across the country halted operations in response to government mandates and concerns over the welfare of workers.

Because the transportation sector is the largest end user of aluminum, accounting for around 35% of aluminum consumption, it is easy to see why so many market participants expressed concern over the lingering effects coronavirus would have on the health of the industry.

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Why Canada faces fresh U.S. aluminum tariffs – by James McCarten (Globe and Mail – July 6, 2020)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The United States is once again threatening to spark a fresh tariff war with Canada over aluminum exports, despite the debut of a renegotiated North American trade agreement that was supposed to usher in stability in the midst of an international economic crisis.

Precisely why remains a mystery to trade and industry insiders, although it’s likely the result of a convergence of disparate factors: COVID-19, international metals arbitrage, President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign and US$16.3-billion worth of Russian aluminum.

“It doesn’t make sense,” said Jean Simard, president and CEO of the Aluminum Association of Canada, coming as it does with the coming into force of USMCA – the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which formally replaced NAFTA this week.

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Politics, pandemics and Russian aluminum: why Canada faces fresh U.S. tariffs (National Post – July 03, 2020)

https://nationalpost.com/

The Canadian Press – WASHINGTON — The United States is once again threatening to spark a fresh tariff war with Canada over aluminum exports, despite the debut of a North American trade agreement that was supposed to usher in stability in the midst of an international economic crisis.

Precisely why remains a mystery to trade and industry insiders, although it’s likely the result of a convergence of disparate factors: COVID-19, international metals arbitrage, President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign and $16.3-billion worth of Russian aluminum.

“It doesn’t make sense,” said Jean Simard, president and CEO of the Aluminum Association of Canada, coming as it does with the coming into force of USMCA — the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which formally replaced NAFTA this week.

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U.S. plan to slap tariffs on Canadian aluminum faces a powerful adversary — the beer lobby – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – June 27, 2020)

https://business.financialpost.com/

As the Trump Administration considers reimposing a 10 per cent tariff on Canadian aluminum, it finds itself at odds with a powerful constituency — beer manufacturers.

On Thursday, Jim McGreevy, chief executive of the Washington, D.C.-based Beer Institute, joined by executives from the American Beverage Association, the Can Manufacturers Institute, and the Aluminum Association, expressed their strong opposition to a tariff or even a quota on Canadian aluminum, in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

“Constraints on imports of aluminum from our country’s closest ally, whether in the form of a quota or a tariff, will significantly increase the cost of aluminum in this country,” the executives wrote.

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U.S. threatens new tariffs on Canadian aluminum unless metal exports curtailed – by Adrian Morrow (Globe and Mail – June 24, 2020)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Trump administration officials are threatening to reimpose tariffs on Canadian aluminum if Ottawa does not swiftly agree to cut the amount of the metal exported to the U.S., said three industry sources on both sides of the border with knowledge of the confidential discussions.

Deputy U.S. trade representative Jeffrey Gerrish told Canadian Ambassador Kirsten Hillman in a Friday phone call that Canada has until July 1 to agree to export control measures, such as quotas, or Robert Lighthizer, the administration’s trade chief, will recommend that President Donald Trump reimpose tariffs, one of the sources said.

A Canadian government official said Ms. Hillman discussed aluminum and steel exports with top officials in Mr. Lighthizer’s office on Friday.

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Trump considering reinstating tariffs on Canadian aluminum and steel imports – by Adrian Morrow (Globe and Mail – June 19, 2020)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The Trump administration is floating the possibility of reimposing tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports amid lobbying from American producers, and has been in talks with Ottawa.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lightizer told congressional hearings Wednesday that rising metals imports are “a problem with Canada that we’re working on.”

“There have been surges on steel and aluminum,” he said. “It’s something that’s of genuine concern.”

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Column: Friend or foe? Canadian imports split U.S. aluminium sector – by Andy Bell (Reuters U.K. – June 19, 2020)

https://uk.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – A surge in Canadian aluminium imports “is destroying what remains of the United States industry”. The dramatic warning comes from the American Primary Aluminum Association (APAA), which represents Century Aluminum and Magnitude 7 Metals, two of the last three remaining primary producers in the United States.

The solution, they argue in a May 27 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, is to revoke Canada’s exemption from import tariffs.

The U.S. Aluminum Association (AA), which has a much larger membership including the country’s third producer Alcoa, vehemently disagrees.

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Some U.S. aluminum producers are again pushing for tariffs on Canada as others warn of ‘great Canadian distraction’ – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – June 17, 2020)

https://business.financialpost.com/

Tensions around aluminum appear to be rearing their head again even as the new NAFTA is only weeks away from taking effect

Just weeks before Canada’s long-negotiated trade agreement with the U.S. and Mexico is set to take effect, there’s mounting speculation that Washington is preparing to re-introduce tariffs on Canadian aluminum in what’s likely to cause a political uproar with serious economic fallout for the domestic industry.

The U.S. is the primary export destination for Canada’s $13-billion aluminum industry, accounting for 83 per cent of its trade in 2018.

Nonetheless, in recent weeks, aluminum future prices on the Chicago Mercantile Market have risen, which some analysts attribute to behind-the-scenes lobbying efforts by two U.S. aluminum producers, pressure from other aluminum producing countries, and the likelihood that U.S. President Donald Trump will impose new restrictions on Canadian aluminum.

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