Aluminum Association Doesn't Support 'Drastic' Full Removal of Section 232 Tariffs
Although the Aluminum Association opposed the imposition of 10% tariffs on imported aluminum in 2018, now the trade group doesn't want those tariffs lifted entirely. The tariffs have already been removed on Canada, the No. 1 source of imported aluminum. “We were not in favor of the drastic move of putting [Section] 232 in” and “we would not be in favor of the drastic move of removing 232 in one fell swoop,” Aluminum Association CEO Tom Dobbins said.
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Dobbins, who was speaking on an April 15 press call, said that arrival of a new administration is an opportunity for more countries than Canada and Mexico to be allowed to export aluminum without tariffs or quotas into the U.S. He said the administration “should carefully consider making exemptions for countries that trade fairly,” though he declined to say which countries he had in mind. When asked by International Trade Today if the association would welcome all European Union members to be spared the tariff, he said that there are no “bad actors” in Europe, but that when they import aluminum from China at dumped prices, then their producers can sell into the U.S. below U.S. prices. He praised antidumping cases against China originating in Europe, but also said that Germany, Italy, Spain, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia and Romania, all targets of a recent aluminum sheet antidumping order, are “countries of concern.”
Still, Dobbins acknowledged that to “really go after China and bad actors” subsidizing over production, free market economies need to unite, and that removing Section 232 tariffs on the EU would lower tensions (and retaliatory tariffs on U.S. aluminum products).
“We actually have a meeting scheduled with the Department of Commerce next week to have this discussion,” he said. “We all recognize our trade situation and our tariff situation is in constant evolution and were going to have to keep revisiting where we are.”