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Officials: Canadian aluminum exports to U.S. have not surged after tariff exemption

There has been no surge of Canadian aluminum exports into the U.S. markets this year despite U.S. President Donald Trump claiming otherwise, industry officials from both sides of the border said Friday. According to U.S.
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Aluminum sheets. iStock/Getty Images

There has been no surge of Canadian aluminum exports into the U.S. markets this year despite U.S. President Donald Trump claiming otherwise, industry officials from both sides of the border said Friday.

According to U.S. Census Bureau data released this week, the overall import of Canadian primary aluminum into the United States actually fell 2.6% in June versus May of this year. 

In addition, primary aluminum imports from Canada to the United States have fallen about 5% for the first half of 2020 versus the same period in 2017 - the last set of annual data unimpaired by U.S. tariffs on Canadian exports.

A supposed surge in Canadian aluminum exports into the United States was the primary reason cited by Trump on Thursday in relaunching a 10% tariff later this month - a claim that has been sharply criticized by Canadian aluminum producers.

"Year in and year out, Canada has been the most reliable source of primary aluminium for the U.S., providing low carbon, responsibly produced metal at world prices,” said Aluminum Association of Canada president/CEO Jean Simard in a statement. “This U.S. focus on Canada only distracts from the real problem facing the aluminium industry: unfairly subsidized Chinese aluminium production leading to global overcapacity.”

According to the Aluminum Association in the United States, only one type of primary aluminum imports from Canada saw an increase in volume in the first half of 2020 - unalloyed, or P1020. But officials attributed that to smelters globally producing more P1020 aluminum as demand for other types of the metal fell in light of COVID-19.

Officials added that the P1020 volume growth was offset by declines in Canadian exports of value-added products (VAP) and alloyed aluminum.

Tom Dobbins, president/CEO of the Aluminum Association in the United States, said in a release that American aluminum demand has fallen by nearly one-quarter so far this year - “the first decline in nearly a decade” - and Washington’s focus should be on how to kickstart U.S. manufacturing and not with “picking battles with USMCA trading partners.”

“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.”

Simard added that - as U.S. markets demand evolves this year - there has already been a “rebalancing of product mix” away from P1020 aluminum back towards VAP, especially as the North American automotive industry recovers.

"There is no surge for 2020 over 2019,” he said. “Monthly anomalies do not make for a yearly surge; they are simply results of changing market dynamics in crisis times."