The results of the mid-term elections to the United States Congress may have a palpable effect on aluminium prices globally, although what that effect may be was not immediately clear.
As of 8am US Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday November 7, the Democratic Party had won 219 seats in the government's lower House of Representatives, achieving a majority for their party for the first time since 2010.Meanwhile, the Republican Party had increased its majority in the upper Senate by at least two seats.The result suggests that the Democrats now have the power to challenge and even stop measures attempted by US President Donald Trump, who is a Republican, to advance a self-described "nationalist" agenda.On the trade front, this could mean a public display or rejection of the Trump administration's agenda, specifically concerning the trade war between China and the US, but possibly also extending to the government's approach toward its Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, as well as the sanctions blocking imports of aluminium materials by Russian producer UC Rusal."It seems the view is that, because the...