The Aluminium Association of Canada (AAC) expressed its disappointment with the Trump Administration’s decision last week to levy a new set of tariffs on aluminium and steel imported from Canada.
Jean Simard , President and CEO of the Aluminium Association of Canada, challenged the Trump Administration’s contention that the move was done in response to a surge of aluminium cascading across the border from the dominion’s smelters.
“We were already seeing a rebalancing in product mix from basic commodity ingot (P1020) back to value added product (VAP) through the recovery of the automotive industry. There is no surge for 2020 over 2019, monthly anomalies do not make for a yearly surge, they are simply results of changing market dynamics in crisis times.”
Per the AAC’s numbers, exports of 7601 aluminium was down by 2.6 percent on the month in June, with primary aluminium exports to the United States off by almost 5 percent in the year’s first half compared to the first 6 months of 2019.
The AAC went on to point out that Canada has been key to the United States meeting its aluminium demand, as it consumes about six times the aluminium its smelters can produce each year.
“At a time when we should work together to jump-start our economies by strengthening our supply chains, here we are playing into the hands of Russia and China. This move will not only benefit foreign traders, but will increasingly substitute Canadian metal with metal from Russia without addressing the real problem: China.”
“Year in and year out, Canada has been the most reliable source of primary aluminium for the US, providing low carbon, responsibly produced metal at world prices,” Simand concluded. “This US focus on Canada only distracts from the real problem facing the aluminium industry: unfairly subsidized Chinese aluminium production leading to global overcapacity.”