U.S. administration withdraws tariffs on Canadian aluminum
On August 6 the U.S. government announced that it would impose a 10 percent ad valorem tariff on imports of non-alloyed unwrought aluminum articles from Canada under U.S. national security threat provisions, despite the fact that Canada is recognized as a security partner in U.S. law as part of the U.S. National Technology and Industrial Base, and has long been considered a highly reliable supplier of aluminum to the U.S. defense industry.
"Aluminum Can" by patrickd is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
CSG East’s Canada-U.S. Relations Committee discussed the issue at length during its two Zoom meetings on August 10 and 11, and prepared a resolution on the issue, asking that the tariffs be withdrawn. CSG East’s Executive Committee unanimously passed the resolution at its Zoom meeting on August 27.
On September 15, the U.S. Trade representative announced that the United States would resume duty-free treatment of non-alloyed, unwrought aluminum retroactive to September 1, 2020. The Globe and Mail quoted U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who said “I’m glad tariffs will not be reimposed on Canadian aluminum. It’s ridiculous to think that aluminum imports from our Canadian friends present a national security concern.” Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said that should the United States reimpose tariffs on aluminum, Canada would reciprocate with a dollar-for-dollar retaliation.
