AMU Summit: 'We need to bring back the adults in the room' on trade talks

“There’s a lot of reaction to what is said, which doesn’t necessarily have a tone that is conducive to going back to the negotiating table,” said Jean Simard, president and CEO of the Aluminium Association of Canada. “We need to bring back the adults in the room for this to happen.”

Simard said the goal is “Fortress North America.”

“Let’s put up the fences altogether against non-market-based economies,” Simard said. “Let’s do what we have to do against transshipment, but let’s trade freely between ourselves.”

“We have to stop feuding against each other and playing into the hands of China and other non-market-based economies,” Simard said.

Charles Johnson, president and CEO of the Arlington, Va.-based Aluminum Association noted, “We’re going to need to let everyone regroup, and then we’re going to have to see where we go from here. And a lot of that lies in the administration’s lap.

Canada remains the largest source of US primary aluminum imports, accounting for about 62% over the past year despite the tariffs. Canada also accounted for about 63% of US aluminum scrap imports over the same period.

The trade relationship also runs in the other direction, although at a smaller scale. Canada’s imports were about 13% of US import volumes over the past year, but the US still supplied 39% of Canada’s total. Plate, sheet and strip accounted for 44% of Canadian aluminum imports. Within that category the US supplied 32%, just behind China at 35%, while no other country account for more than 6%.

Here to stay?

Joe Quinn, executive director for Center for Strategic Industrial Materials Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE), said Section 232 tariffs are likely here to stay since they were put into place during the first Trump administration.

“This is the third White House that thinks the Section 232 program is effective,” Quinn said. “Trump one, Biden, Trump two, all have kept the 232 programs in place.”

That means it’s important for the US to increase domestic production, Quinn said.

“We’re not disagreeing on the value of Canadian metal, but just recognizing the political environment that we’re currently in,” he said. “I don’t know who’s going to win the next election, but I just doubt they’re going to change 232.”

Currently, the US makes about 15% of its primary aluminum, while demand is increasing. If the proposed smelter in Inola, Okla., is built, domestic production would increase to 31%, Quinn said.

“If we can get one smelter, maybe get two more smelters, there’s a pathway there,” Quinn said. “The United States can make more than half of what it needs on the demand side. We believe that’s a sensible policy.

Johnson said tariff uncertainty has prevented companies from making long-term decisions.

“We’ve just been honest about that with the administration,” Johnson said. “It’s going to take some more certainty for us to be able to move to move forward as an industry.”