Canadian aluminium gets total exemption on Section 232 tariffs: A great victory for the industry, the workers and the entire country

Canada is entering a new era of free and fair trade with the US and Mexico

MONTREAL, May 17, 2019 /CNW Telbec/ - The US administration has announced the complete and permanent lifting of tariffs on aluminium imports from Canada, as well as a commitment to jointly address potential issues of transshipment, dumped or subsidized metal and surges that could impact the North American value chain. According to Jean Simard, President and CEO of the AAC, "As of next week, Canada and Mexico will be the only two countries in the world to have full and unrestricted access to the US market".

"This presidential decision, stated Jean Simard, enables the full realization of the potential of the new CUSMA free trade agreement between our three countries by putting an end to the harmful uncertainty that is impeding the development of the Canadian and North American aluminium industry. It's time to turn the page and redouble our efforts to ensure the full development of the North-American aluminium value chain. Canadian politicians should embrace this hard-earned victory by unanimously supporting ratification of the CUSMA before the House adjourns."

This exemption will help protect North America's highly integrated value chains, which employ hundreds of thousands of middle-class workers. "We are grateful to the governments of Canada and Quebec, to Prime Minister Trudeau and Minister Freeland in particular and to our Ambassador David McNaughton, whose perseverance has borne fruit, as well as to the representatives of the government and industry of the United States, particularly Senator Grassley, as well as his colleagues in the US Congress who have pleaded for Canada with the administration, emphasizing the close strategic and historical partnership that unites us", added Jean Simard.

We can at last redirect our attention to the real source of the problem, the global aluminium overcapacity, which results from unfair government subsidies as demonstrated in the OECD report. China, which accounts for 54 percent of primary aluminum and 53 percent of the world's processed aluminium, is the largest aluminium producer on the planet. Any solution to the global problem of oversupply must necessarily take China into account.

The Aluminium Association of Canada, with its long-standing partners, The Aluminum Association and European Aluminium, as well as with the governments of Quebec and Canada, will continue to work towards a solution to global overcapacity.

About the Aluminium Association of Canada (www.aluminium.ca/en)
The Aluminium Association of Canada (AAC) is a non-profit organization representing three Canadian world-class aluminium producers: Alcoa, Alouette, and Rio Tinto operating ten smelters in Canada, nine of which are in Quebec, and employing over 8,500 workers. For more information, visit www.aluminium.ca or Twitter @AAC_aluminium.

SOURCE Aluminum Association of Canada