Aluminum Association supports White House effort to reign in unfair metal trade

The Aluminum Association has voiced its support for the White House’s release of “A Proclamation on Adjusting Imports of Aluminum Into the United States,” in which President Joe Biden calls for establishing “a country of smelt and country of most recent cast requirement for imports of aluminum articles and derivative aluminum articles from Mexico and an increase in the duty rate for imports of aluminum articles and derivative aluminum articles that are products of Mexico containing aluminum for which the reported primary country of smelt, secondary country of smelt, or country of most recent cast is China, Russia (subject to paragraph 10 of this proclamation), Belarus or Iran.”

Aluminum products smelted and cast in the countries noted cannot enter the United States under the Section 232 exemption that Mexico enjoys as part of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
 
“Today’s announcement will help to safeguard North America as one of the best places in the world to make aluminum and aluminum products, says Charles Johnson, president and CEO of the Aluminum Association, Arlington, Virginia, of the move. “Over the last decade, the industry has invested more than $10 billion in new and expanded plants in the United States, including nearly $200 million this year alone.

“North American aluminum firms enjoy several major structural advantages, including some of the lowest carbon aluminum production in the world,” he adds. “By working with our fellow USMCA countries on strong trade enforcement, we can help drive continued growth and investment in the region—creating jobs and capturing increased demand expected in the coming years. This plan is an example of how regional cooperation still works. We appreciate the administration’s hard work on this issue and look forward to working with them on a robust implementation plan.”
 
Aluminum demand in North America (United States and Canada) was up 4.3 percent year over year in the first quarter of 2024, according to recent Aluminum Association data. Aluminum output is expected to grow by about 80 percent globally by 2050 as demand for sustainable packaging, safe and efficient vehicles, greener buildings and infrastructure increases.

With sustainability an increasingly important driver of future demand for the material, the Aluminum Association recently completed a report, Pathways to Decarbonization: A North American Aluminum Roadmap, that lays out theoretical pathways to achieve industrywide carbon emission reductions consistent with the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Net Zero by 2050 goals. The report concludes that North America enjoys a significant carbon emissions advantage over much of the rest of the global aluminum industry. Access to abundant clean energy and investment in new technologies will be central to hitting ambitious emissions targets by midcentury, the association says.