Trade cases have boosted US aluminum investment, lowered imports: association

The successful implementation of targeted trade enforcement on common alloy aluminum sheet since 2021 has reduced unfairly traded imports in the US and has encouraged the domestic aluminum industry to invest in capacity expansion, the Aluminum Association said May 3.

"We are gratified to see, once again, that targeted trade enforcement works," Aluminum Association CEO Charles Johnson said in a statement. "One year after the US Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission took strong action against unfair trade in the US market, the domestic common alloy aluminum sheet market is showing signs of significant recovery."

Commerce enacted antidumping and countervailing orders last year on imports of common alloy aluminum sheet from 16 countries in a case petitioned by the Aluminum Association and some of its member companies. The duty margins range from 3.2% to 242.8%.

The association's statement accompanied its report examining the impact of the trade enforcement cases on the domestic aluminum industry.

"The report found a two-thirds drop in imports of common alloy sheet from the targeted countries between 2019 and 2021 and more than $300 million in investment in the domestic market," the trade group said. "While imports of unfairly traded sheet from the 16 countries now subject to AD/CVD orders accounted for 62.7% of total US imports in 2019, imports from those countries accounted for just 25.2% of total US imports in 2021."

The Aluminum Association said US aluminum producer shipments of common alloy sheet also increased 24.4% year over year to 3.34 billion lb in 2021.

Commerce also implemented antidumping and countervailing orders on imports of common alloy aluminum sheet from China in 2019.

Beyond the common alloy sheet market, the broader US aluminum industry committed or invested nearly $1 billion towards domestic operations in 2021, the Aluminum Association added.