APAA urges U.S. International Trade Commission to continue with Section 232 aluminium tariffs despite USMCA

The American Primary Aluminum Association (APAA) has urged the U.S. International Trade Commission to continue with the Section 232 tariffs on all aluminium imports, as the organization believes it is pivotal to safeguard the interests of the domestic primary aluminium producers.

Mark Duffy, Chief Executive Officer of the APAA said, "The Section 232 aluminium tariffs are working.  By the first quarter of 2019, due to production restarts, U.S. primary aluminium production will have increased by over 67 per cent.  In order for those restarts to continue, and to better serve America's primary aluminium industry, all nations must be subject to either tariffs or quotas based on historic shipping levels.”

He added that the tariffs have safeguarded the jobs and work of thousands of U.S. workers and the U.S. International Trade Commission should continue with the Section 232 tariffs in the interest of the American workers and keep tariffs separate from the USMCA.

According to the association, aluminium capacity crisis is global in nature and far more than just a China problem.  A free access to major foreign aluminium producers to dump their capacity in the U.S. market creates adverse price imbalance in the domestic market.  This will stop U.S. producers from restarting their production.  The association insisted that excluding any country from tariffs without import quotas would be detrimental to the current restarting plans and future domestic expansion plans. They insisted that Canada, Mexico and EU should not be exempted from the tariffs.   The association indicated that the U.S. primary aluminium producers have responded positively to the Trump Administration's Section 232 aluminium tariffs by increasing domestic production.

The association also said that the rise in U.S. aluminium prices had no significant effect on downstream aluminium industries or consumers.  Shipments of aluminium extrusions and aluminium sheet and plate are all up during YTD 2018 in comparison to YTD 2017.  As aluminium is a relatively small proportion of the overall finished downstream products it is included in, there has been little inflationary effect on the economy or on those end-product consumers. 

The American Primary Aluminum Association (APAA) is an entity that was formed to support the interests of America's primary aluminium industry and its workers through the Aluminum Now campaign.