More than a year after President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on foreign metals, it\u2019s still cheaper for U.S. manufacturers to buy their aluminum from overseas suppliers than American producers.<\/p>\n
Last week, some of the U.S. industry\u2019s top executives \u2014 including JW Aluminum CEO Lee McCarter \u2014 called for an end to the tariffs, saying they haven\u2019t stopped overproduction in China and are actually making their own products more expensive.<\/p>\n
They also warned against White House proposals to remove the import fees on aluminum from Canada and Mexico and replace them with quotas on shipments from the two neighboring countries. That would lead to shortages in the aluminum U.S. companies need to make their products.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, the tariffs have done nothing so far to stop China\u2019s trade-distorting behavior in the market,\u201d said Jean-Marc Germain, CEO of Constellium, which makes rolled aluminum at 24 sites in North America, Europe and Asia.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat it does is increase the cost of our products,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Germain said China\u2019s aluminum production increased by 6 percent in 2018, with growth kicking in after the tariffs were implemented. Chinese government subsidies to the aluminum industry have totaled $70 billion over the last five years, according to a study by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.<\/p>\n
Another study by George Mason University\u2019s Mercatus Center shows U.S. buyers of Chinese aluminum have obtained tariff waivers on 86 percent of their imports, belying the notion that the tariffs were designed to hurt China.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, U.S. companies using Canadian aluminum have received waivers on just 0.2 percent of their imports.<\/p>\n
Aluminum executives said the White House should focus on \u201caggressive\u201d talks with China to end overproduction and not on tariffs or quotas that penalize trading partners like Mexico and Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur country\u2019s ability to produce thin-gauge foil has been severely impacted by China over the last 15 years,\u201d said McCarter, whose Goose Creek company makes flat-rolled aluminum products for the construction and the heating, ventilation and air conditioning industries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
More than a year after President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on foreign metals, it\u2019s still cheaper for U.S. manufacturers to buy their aluminum from overseas suppliers than American producers. Last week, some of the U.S. industry\u2019s top executives \u2014 including JW Aluminum CEO Lee McCarter \u2014 called for an end to the tariffs, saying they …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1545,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[152],"tags":[823],"class_list":["post-1544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-flash-news","tag-donald-trump"],"openstation_lock":null,"openstation_contributors":[],"openstation_attached_media":[1545],"yoast_head":"\n