APAA lobbies Trump to reinstate Canadian aluminum tariff

Pittsburgh — The American Primary Aluminum Association sent a letter to US President Donald Trump urging the administration to reimpose the 10% Section 232 tariff on aluminum imports from Canada as a means to protect the domestic primary aluminum industry, the association said July 7.

"We want to see the US primary aluminum industry survive and then prosper for decades to come," APAA CEO Mark Duffy said in the letter. "But to do so, we need to enforce our trade agreements, stop this unprecedented Canadian import surge and stand strong with American workers by reinstating the 10% tariff on Canadian imports."

Canadian aluminum imports were exempted from the aluminum tariff in 2019 as part of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) negotiations. Duffy said Canada has since failed to regulate its aluminum exports to the US as agreed upon when the exemption was granted, thus threatening US primary aluminum jobs.

"Since the 10% aluminum tariff on Canadian imports was removed last year, however, we have seen Mr. Trudeau's government announce new subsidies to the Canadian aluminum industry, restart Canadian production and now has increased imports of primary aluminum into the US by 80%, despite the agreement that the Canadians would do no such thing," Duffy said.

Duffy said unwrought aluminum imports from Canada under HTS code 7601.10 reached 184,789 mt in May, citing data from the US Census Bureau.

"Canada is now at the highest level of Canadian aluminum imports since your Section 232 program went into place and more than 30% higher than historical average volumes," he said. "While American aluminum workers and their families are fearful of what Canada is doing to their livelihoods, Canadian aluminum imports are skyrocketing."

The APAA represents Century Aluminum, which operates aluminum smelters in Kentucky and South Carolina, and Magnitude 7 Metals, which operates a smelter in Missouri.

"These workers make the majority of US primary aluminum production," Duffy said. "They know that the high-purity primary aluminum they produce is a vital component of our defense industrial base, used for our soldiers' body armor, planes and tanks."

In a June 25 letter to US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, the separate US Aluminum Association and several US-based aluminum producers said current primary aluminum imports from Canada are consistent with the levels prior to the implementation of Section 232 tariffs and below peak volumes imported in 2017.

The letter also advocated the continuation of Canada's exemption from the tariffs.

"The integrated North American aluminum supply chain has been a crucial element of the US aluminum industry's ability to invest and grow over the past several decades," the letter said, adding that US smelters alone can only meet about one-third of domestic demand.