Quebec’s political leaders and aluminium industry players are happy with US decision of cancelling tariffs

Quebec’s political leaders and aluminium industry players wholeheartedly welcomed the US decision of cancelling the 10 per cent tariff on primary aluminium ingots from Canada, according to a report on Tuesday, September 15.

“Very good news for the Quebec’s aluminum producers,” tweeted Pierre Fitzgibbon, the province’s economic development minister.

He thanked the efforts of the federal government behind successfully coordinating with American legislators and convincing them to scrap the tariff. He pointed out nine of Canada’s ten aluminium smelters, built largely by American investors and manufacture mostly for the American market, are located in Quebec, while the tenth is located in Kitimat, British Columbia.

Catherine Loubier, Quebec’s delegate general in New York, and Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador in Washington, together with Canadian aluminium industry representatives in the US pushed the Trump administration for the duties. The efforts included 185 events of presenting facts and figures to the state legislators on the importance of Canadian-made aluminium for American manufacturers and consumers and the possible impact of the tariff on products sold on both sides of the border.

The argument against the tariff was that the surge in Canadian aluminium imports seen by the US in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic was temporary and would disappear with the recovery of the market demand in Canada.

Backing up arguments that the tariffs were unwarranted, Loubier had said: “The numbers have emerged that raw aluminum exports to the United States have diminished and value-added products have increased.”

At the end, the campaign opposing the tariff ended up turning red flags into green.

Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland thanked Hillman, provincial representatives and also the aluminium industry for all their hard work in helping get across the message that the tariff was bad for both Canadians and Americans.

In response to the US decision of cancelling the tariff, Canada has also dropped its plans to retaliate with countertariffs.

The first time when the Trump administration imposed tariffs on Canadian aluminium and steel was in 2017, followed by lifting the duties in 2019. Then a year later, the US government declared a 10 per cent duty on Canadian aluminium with effect from August 16.

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