The U.S. has pulled back from imposing a 10-percent tariff on Canadian aluminum imports into the country. Last month, President Trump had announced that he would reinstate the tariff, which had been withdrawn in May ahead of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement going into effect.
In a statement, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said, “After consultations with the Canadian government, the United States has determined that trade in non-alloyed, unwrought aluminum is likely to normalize in the last four months of 2020, with imports declining sharply from the surges experienced earlier in the year. Average monthly imports are expected to decline 50 percent from the monthly average in the period of January through July. Accordingly, the United States will modify the terms of the 10-percent tariff imposed in August on imports of Canadian non-alloyed unwrought aluminum.”
The U.S. will now apply a quota system on aluminum shipments from Canada for the final four months of 2020. For September and November, it’s set at 83,000 tons of non-alloyed, unwrought aluminum, and in October and December, it’s 70,000 tons. The U.S. will review shipments six weeks after the end of each month during this period to see whether actual shipments met expectations, and allow a five-percent margin in deliveries. If shipments in any month exceed the expected volume, the United States expects that shipments in the next month will decline by a corresponding amount.
The U.S. plans to consult with the Canadian government at the end of the year to review the state of the aluminum trade in light of trade patterns during the four-month period and expected market conditions in 2021.
Responding to the tariff news, U.S. Chamber Executive Vice President and Head of International Affairs Myron Brilliant said, “The Chamber welcomes the news that the U.S. will drop the damaging tariffs it recently re-imposed on aluminum from Canada. What American manufacturers need now is certainty that these tariffs won’t make another reappearance. Setting aside these threats once and for all will allow American job creators to focus on economic recovery.”