On October 27, 2020, President Trump signed a Proclamation that formally exempted Canadian non-alloyed unwrought aluminum exports from the punitive tariffs under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. This exemption formalizes USTR’s September 15th announcement of the return of tariff-free treatment of Canadian aluminum retroactively in response to Canada’s threatened countermeasures (see U.S. Blinks First – No Tariffs on Imports of Canadian Aluminum).

The Proclamation reserves the authority to reimpose the tariff on imports of non-alloyed unwrought aluminum from Canada in the event that the volume of imports from Canada in the remaining months of 2020 exceeds the quantities that the United States expects will be exported from Canada to the United States during this period. USTR has stated that it is expected that Canada would export just 70,000 to 83,000 tonnes of raw aluminum a month through December – about half the monthly rate from January to July.  The United States and Canada expect to hold further consultations in December 2020 to discuss the state of aluminum trade between the two countries in light of trade patterns in the last 4 months of 2020 and expected market conditions in 2021.

Tereposky & DeRose regularly provides advice on Canadian trade matters. Should you have any questions regarding this matter, we are at your disposal.