A key challenge for US primary aluminium production facilities is the high cost of electricity, which trade restrictions measures such as Section 232 do nothing to alleviate, according to a senior lawyer and former commissioner and vice chairman of the US International Trade Commission.
According to Dean Pinkert, senior counsel at New York-based law firm Hughes Hubbard & Reed, trade measures are often an ineffective, indirect approach to challenges that can be addressed by policymakers in a more direct manner.
"Clearly, the original [Section 232] measures, as well as the countermeasures introduced by some US trading partners, have imposed substantial direct and indirect costs on US consumers and have disrupted global supply chains," he told Fastmarkets in an interview.
"The fact that, in January 2020, the Administration moved to increase tariffs on derivative aluminium products is consistent with adverse effects on downstream industries from the action taken two years ago," Pinkert said. "However, those actions may have enabled price increases for the domestic aluminium industry."
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