Rolls of aluminum close up in production. Stock image.
Canadian aluminum smelters have started diverting primary metal away from the United States in response to the ratcheting up of import tariffs, first to 25% in March and then to 50% in June.
Alcoa Corp, which operates smelters on both sides of the border, has since March sold more than 100,000 metric tons of Canadian metal to consumers outside of the US, the company told analysts on its quarterly earnings call.
US imports of primary aluminum dropped sharply in April and May even before US President Donald Trump sprang his second tariff surprise in June.
Some of the import gap is being filled by surging shipments of recyclable aluminum, which as a raw material is subject only to Trump’s lower reciprocal tariffs.
Physical market dynamics are likely to remain highly fluid, dependent both on the US premium and on Trump’s willingness to grant…
