Administration adjusts aluminum section 232 tariffs

In a surprise move, President Trump announced late Friday night that his administration would apply new 10 percent Section 232 tariffs on “derivative aluminum products” including wire, cable, motor vehicle bumper stampings and body stampings for agricultural vehicles starting on February 8. (Similar to the original Section 232 decision, the announcement also called for 25 percent tariffs on several steel derivative products.)  Elsewhere in Washington, lawmakers will vote today on whether to allow additional witnesses as part of the Senate impeachment trial. The vote will likely be close and will dictate whether the trial continues or wraps up (very likely with an acquittal for the president) as soon as this weekend. As of right now, the State of the Union is still planned to take place as scheduled on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the president signed the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in a ceremony at the White House Wednesday. The deal still must be ratified by the Canadian parliament before the new agreement officially replaces NAFTA, though issues around aluminum import monitoring are playing a supporting role in that debate in Ottawa. See below for more on the long and winding road toward final implementation of the USMCA, which likely won’t go into effect until the fall. As part of the Commerce Department’s first administrative review of the antidumping order on aluminum foil from China, Joe Quinn and Lauren Wilk spent much of the week on site visits to Reynolds Consumer Products facilities in Kentucky and Arkansas (Joe pictured above with association Board member Murray Rudisill of Reynolds). Finally, the association is looking for a Policy Analytics Associate to join our team in Arlington, VA. We encourage you to share the job description within your professional networks.