U.S. slaps 10% tariff on aluminum imports from Canada

President Donald Trump says his administration is reimposing a 10 per cent tariff on imports of Canadian aluminum into the United States that is set to come into effect immediately.

Trump made the announcement of an executive order imposing the tariffs Thursday in a campaign speech at a Whirlpool factory in Ohio.

The U.S. imposed tariffs on Canadian and Mexican steel and aluminum imports in 2018 but removed them last year.

“My administration agreed to lift those tariffs in return for a promise from the Canadian government that its aluminum industry would not flood our country with exports and kill all our aluminum jobs, which is exactly what they did,” Trump said.

“Canada was taking advantage of us, as usual.”

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The move comes barely a month after the coming into force of the United States-Mexico-Canada Accord (USMCA), a free-trade deal also known as CUSMA in Canada that came to replace the 26-year-old North American Free Trade Accord (NAFTA).

‘Unwarranted and unacceptable’

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland slammed the U.S. tariffs as “unwarranted and unacceptable.”

“Canadian aluminum does not undermine U.S. national security,” Freeland said in a statement.

“Canadian aluminum strengthens U.S. national security and has done so for decades through unparalleled cooperation between our two countries.”

Canada is a reliable supplier of aluminum for American value-added manufacturers, she added.

“In the time of a global pandemic and an economic crisis, the last thing Canadian and American workers need is new tariffs that will raise costs for manufacturers and consumers, impede the free flow of trade, and hurt provincial and state economies,” Freeland said.

“In response to the American tariffs, Canada intends to swiftly impose dollar-for-dollar countermeasures.”

The American Primary Aluminum Association (APAA), which represents two of the last three remaining primary producers in the United States, has argued that a “surge” of Canadian aluminum exports to the U.S. is threatening the viability of the domestic primary aluminum industry.

APAA CEO Mark Duffy has called on the Trump administration to reimpose the so-called Section 232 tariffs on Canadian aluminum on national security grounds “to save American jobs.”

“Since the 10 per cent aluminum tariff on Canadian imports was removed last year, we have seen Prime Minister Trudeau’s government announce new subsidies for the Canadian aluminum industry, the restart of Canadian production, and skyrocketing imports of Canadian primary aluminum – by over 80 per cent in the last year alone – despite an agreement that the Canadians would do no such thing,” Duffy wrote in an open letter to Trump on July 6.

According to U.S. Census data, 184,789 metric tons of HTS 7601.10 came in from Canada in May 2020, a record high since Canada was granted its exemption to the Section 232 program, Duffy said.

Canada is now at the highest level of import volume since the Section 232 program went into place – more than 30 percent higher than its historical average, he added.

“Now is the time to put America First and for President Trump to enforce our trade agreements, stop this unprecedented Canadian import surge, and stand strong with American workers by reinstating the 10 per cent tariff on Canadian imports,” Duffy said.

However, the U.S. Aluminum Association, which represents more than 120 companies across the entire industry, disagrees with that position.

Aluminum Association president and CEO Tom Dobbins disputed the notion of a “surge” in imports of Canadian aluminum.

Dobbins said data released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau showed that overall imports of primary aluminum from Canada into the United States declined by about 2.6 per cent from May to June. Primary aluminum import volumes from Canada for the first 6 months of 2020 were nearly 5 per cent lower than in the same period in 2017.

“This latest data release is consistent with our position all along – claims of a ‘surge’ of primary aluminum imports from Canada are simply not accurate,” Dobbins said. “It is disappointing that the few companies who stand to benefit from reinstated Section 232 aluminum tariffs on Canada have cherry-picked government data and omitted important context to build their case.”

The Trump administration “should be focused on getting the manufacturing economy going again in the region – not picking battles with USMCA trading partners,” he added.

“With U.S. aluminum demand down almost 25 per cent so far in 2020 – the first decline in nearly a decade – the industry can simply not afford more shocks to the market,” Dobbins said.