US governors urge removal of Al tariffs

The governors of three US states near the Canadian border have petitioned President Donald Trump's administration to remove the 10pc Section 232 tariffs it recently restored on Canadian aluminum imports in August.

Governor Janet Mills of Maine, Governor Christopher Sununu of New Hampshire and Governor Philip Scott of Vermont signed the letter, which went to the White House yesterday.

New England's economy depends on bi-lateral trade with Canada and the tariffs will increase costs for industries such as "aerospace, information technology, construction materials, food systems and more," the letter said.

The US placed Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum products from Canada and most other countries in March 2018, but removed them from North American trading partners in July 2019.

Once tariffs on Canada were repealed and pre-tariff trade flows were re-established, US aluminum premiums dropped back to historically normal levels of approximately 8.5¢/lb by May 2020.

Argus P1020 Midwest premium averaged between 7-9¢/lb from 2016-2017, two years prior to the tariffs.

But once premiums dropped, US primary smelters such as Magnitude 7 Metals and Century Aluminum lobbied to have tariffs re-instated.

By John Betz