Industry News

President Trump Reimposes 232 Duties on Canadian Aluminum

Aug. 7, 2020


On Thursday, August 6, 2020, President Trump announced that he is reimposing currently suspended 232 duties on Canadian aluminum products. 

The President first imposed these duties in March of 2018 as part of an effort to support the domestic alumimnum and steel producing industries in the interest of national security. Subsequenlty, in May of 2019, the US and Canada reached an agreement to exclude Canadian aluminum from the duties. That agreement, however, included a provision allowing the US to reimpose the duties in the event of a historic surge in aluminum imports from Canada.

According to the White House, "Imports of non-alloyed unwrought aluminum from Canada during June 2019 through May 2020 increased 87 percent compared to the prior twelve-month period and exceeded the volume of any full calendar year in the previous decade." As a result, the President has ordered that the 232 duties on unwrought aluminum from Canada be re-imposed for entries starting on August 16, 2020.