By Danielle Assalve / March 02, 2018 / www.metalbulletin.com /
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Brazil's aluminium industry is concerned about a potential surge of Chinese sheet and foil shipments into the country following US President Donald Trump's decision to enact a 10% tariff on US aluminium imports under Section 232.
"The biggest question is what China will do now... The idea of China looking for new destinations for its aluminium products is very concerning to us," Milton Rego, president of Brazil's aluminium association Abal, told Metal Bulletin on Friday March 2.
China already accounts for more than half of Brazil's total aluminium products imports.
"The volume of sheets and foils that the USA imports from China is double the total size of Brazil's market for these products," Rego said. "It is too much aluminium that would need to find another destination."
In view of that, the association expects Brazil's government to monitor import flows to ensure that no unfair practices take place.
Trump announced on March 1 that he will impose tariffs of 25% on steel imports and
10% on aluminium imports into the United States for an unspecified time frame.
"Abal recognizes the need to fix this situation caused by the excess of global aluminium production, but this should happen by means of capacity reduction and not by unilateral measures that will affect the dynamics of the global trade," Rego said.