IFTA warns against restrictions on imports of primary aluminum

The International Fair Trade Alliance (IFTA), Wauconda, Ill., has announced that it opposes tariffs or other restrictions on the import of primary aluminum into the U.S. Instead, IFTA calls on the Trump administration to curb directly illegal imports of Chinese semifabricated aluminum products.

The U.S. Department of Commerce currently is conducting a Section 232 investigation into whether aluminum imports affect U.S. national security.

IFTA is a nonprofit organization that brings together aluminum extrusion manufacturers and suppliers from around the world to promote free and fair trade. IFTA believes that restrictions on the import of primary aluminum would only bolster China’s determination to export illegally subsidized and unfairly traded semifabricated aluminum products.

“If the United States intends to lead the effort to address the aluminum crisis, then this investigation must confront China’s illegal trade activities, and not restrict the legitimate actions of market-based countries across the globe, including Australia, Canada, and those in Latin America and the Middle East,” said IFTA Chair Jochen Munch, director comercial corporativo, Corporación Ecuatoriana de Aluminio Cedal S.A. in Duran, Ecuador.

“As in the United States, these IFTA members have seen the lengths to which the Chinese government and its aluminum extrusion industry will go to circumvent proper trade remedies,” Munch added. “So, IFTA requests that the U.S. government lead a global effort to confront China’s schemes, as well as the countries that allow the Chinese to evade trade remedies. Otherwise, the positive effects from these legitimate trade cases will have limited impact."