On September 15, 2020, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) office announced in a Statement on Canadian Aluminum that they will “resume duty-free treatment of non-alloyed, unwrought aluminum.” This change will be effective retroactively to September 1, 2020.

The U.S. first imposed Section 232 tariffs on aluminum products from Canada in June of 2018. This resulted in retaliatory tariffs imposed by Canada. After negotiations, both the U.S. and Canada agreed on a set of measures and subsequently lifted their tariffs in May of 2019. In August of 2020, after a surge of aluminum imports, the USTR reimposed the 10% tariff. However, now that aluminum from Canada is likely to normalize in the last four months of 2020, the USTR is now rescinding the tariff.

The USTR will monitor these imports from Canada and determine if the actual shipments met expectations following a six-week period at the end of each month. Should the actual imports exceed more than 105 percent of the expected volume for any month during the four-month period, the United States will impose the 10 percent tariff retroactively on all shipments made during that month. The United States has agreed to consult with Canada at the end of the year to review the state of the aluminum trade moving into 2021.

For more information, please contact your local Noatum Logistics USA representative.