AEC comments on Section 232 Investigation on the Effects of Aluminium Import on U.S. National Security

On June 22, the Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC) testified at the public hearing of the Section 232 Investigation on the Effects of Imports of Aluminum on U.S. National Security.   For decades aluminum extrusions have been used in military applications ranging from plated material designed to protect American soldiers from IEDs to key components in the next generation of warplanes.  Furthermore, nearly 40% of all extrusions consumed in the U.S. go into applications identified by Homeland Security as critical infrastructure.

In 2010, the Aluminum Extruders Fair Trade Committee on behalf of the U.S. aluminum extrusion industry successfully filed for protection from the unfair and illegal trade practices of China.  Those orders, finalized in April 2011, have brought much-needed relief to the U.S. industry.  Those orders resulted in bringing jobs back to American factories and enabling aluminum extruders to invest over $1.5 billion in much-needed capital projects.  This investment has now positioned the industry to offer new and innovative solutions that will further support America’s military and critical infrastructure.

The AEC is now seeing a new round of dumped extrusions coming from Vietnam and other South East Asian nations.  In many cases, the roots of these actions appear to be from China.  As AEC President Jeff Henderson testified last week, from 2011-2016 imports from China into Vietnam have increased by almost 4,000%, while imports from Vietnam into the United States have increased by nearly 8,000% during the same time.  The AEC calls upon the Administration to place duties on imports from countries that enable Chinese extruders to circumvent the established aluminium extrusion antidumping and countervailing duties orders in this way.

The AEC however thinks this action will not stop the threat from China’s overproduction of aluminum since that country does not export primary aluminium.  In fact, U.S. tariffs on primary aluminum will paradoxically support China’s policies of subsidizing their semi-fabricated aluminum producers through restraints on primary aluminium exports. Placing tariffs on good trading partners with market-based economies is the wrong action, directed at the wrong target.

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“If there was one point that nearly all who testified last week agreed upon, it is that Chinese overproduction of aluminum is the issue that has created the aluminum crisis in the United States – plain and simple,” said Henderson.  “Any measure that misses that mark will instead work in the favor of the Chinese aluminum industry.”

In the coming weeks, the Aluminum Extruders Council will be taking this message to policy makers and members on Capitol Hill to be sure it is heard.