Aluminum Association releases presidential policy brief

The Aluminum Association has congratulated President Donald Trump on his inauguration and released a policy brief that lays out its strategic priorities.

Following the Trump's inauguration Jan. 20, Aluminum Association President and CEO Charles Johnson released a statement that reads, “President Trump has long recognized that a strong domestic aluminum industry is essential to our economy and defense industrial base, and he was early to take action to support the industry in his first term. And our industry is growing—investing more the $10 billion in new and updated U.S.-based facilities in recent years. This includes building two new greenfield aluminum rolling mills for the first time since 1980. We stand ready to support the administration’s effort to keep U.S. aluminum manufacturing strong.”

The Arlington, Virginia-based organization, which represents companies that make around 70 percent of the aluminum and aluminum products shipped in North America, lays out strategic policy priorities for the Trump administration and 119th Congress in its “Aluminum for America: A Presidential Policy Brief.”

The framework addresses what the Aluminum Association says are the major challenges facing the domestic aluminum sector, emphasizing key priorities for a healthy, competitive U.S. aluminum industry:

• Pursue strong, targeted trade enforcement to defend American aluminum manufacturers from Chinese and other nonmarket actors while leveraging trade with our national security partners.
• Collect and keep more aluminum for America by strengthening recycling infrastructure and pursuing policies that grow scrap retention, collection and sorting.
• Recognize aluminum as critical for economic and national security through a national strategy to secure aluminum supply chains; ensure access to efficient, reliable and affordable energy; and eliminate reliance on materials from nonmarket or adversarial countries.
• Invest in aluminum with common-sense tax policies that open the door to more private investment by aluminum companies. 

Trade concerns

In its policy brief, the Aluminum Association says unfair trade practices by China are the biggest threat to the U.S. aluminum industry.

“Domestic aluminum manufacturers need strong trade remedies and enforcement to compete with government-subsidized production that is deliberately oversupplying the marketplace,” the association writes.

“China has supported its domestic aluminum industry with more than $60 billion in government subsidies in recent years, according to analysis by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). But trade enforcement must be targeted. Today, the U.S aluminum industry can only supply about one-third of the primary aluminum it needs to meet demand. That means we must rely on imports of primary aluminum from Canada and other market economies.”

Therefore, the association and its members support reinforcing the partnerships and supply chains that ensure America’s aluminum manufacturing dominance, starting with Canada, by calling for the tariff-free flow of aluminum in North America.

The association notes that, in his first term, Trump negotiated a Section 232 tariff exemption for Canada that currently provides roughly two-thirds of the primary aluminum used by U.S. manufacturers. It calls for continuing to monitor trade flow and harmonize tariff regimes in North America, closing loopholes that encourage imports of unfairly traded aluminum that disrupt the domestic market.

The Aluminum Association also calls for using the full scope of strong, targeted trade enforcement mechanisms to block aluminum and aluminum products imports from nonmarket, anticompetitive markets like China. 

It also calls for modernizing how aluminum scrap is categorized for imports/exports by investing in the U.S. Census Bureau’s data collection to help track and report aluminum material flows.

Supporting recycling

In its brief, the Aluminum Association notes that recycled aluminum makes up more than 80 percent of U.S. production and, to meet input material needs by aluminum manufacturers, the U.S. must collect, sort and melt more aluminum at the end-of-life. 

To do so, the association says its members support investing in recycling infrastructure and support policies, including recycling refund and extended producer responsibility (EPR) systems, to increase consumer recycling; investing in sorting technology and infrastructure to separate recyclables by material and aluminum by alloy type.

“This will help us expand what can be recycled, keep more of this critical material onshore and increase the availability of vital input material," the Aluminum Association says.

The association and its members also support access to affordable and reliable energy at industrial scale, saying that the U.S. should “leverage its extensive natural gas benefit to help meet material demand.”

A critical metal

When it comes to the critical nature of aluminum to the U.S., the Aluminum Association supports eliminating U.S. reliance on materials from nonmarket or adversarial countries by prioritizing critical material production, supply (including alloying materials), recycling and fair trade with allies. It calls for supporting existing programs “that incentivize modern American manufacturing, abundant and affordable energy and critical materials” and maintaining and expanding the 45X Advanced Manufacturing tax credit program.

The association also calls for increasing production of critical materials like aluminum in the U.S. for the U.S., including primary and recycled aluminum and alloyed aluminum products such as aluminum sheet, plate, foil, extrusions and wire.

For primary aluminum production, the Aluminum Association calls for facilitating new, affordable electricity generation for smelters and supporting primary aluminum smelters’ upgrades to aging facilities.

For recycled production, it advocates for increasing access to material supply by investing in recycling, sorting and remelting infrastructure. It asks for the administration to “Support natural gas production and pipeline expansion to take advantage of U.S. energy resources. Explore options for new energy sources that will expand access and lower the carbon footprint of the aluminum industry in the United States.”

The Aluminum Association also asks that the new administration ensure that aluminum scrap collected in the U.S. is recycled here through supportive trade policies and economic incentives to invest in recycling infrastructure, including state-of-the-art collection and sorting technologies.

To learn more about the aluminum industry’s policy priorities, visit its Aluminum Agenda policy page.