- The European Union could impose preliminary measures to protect its steel and aluminum industries as soon as July, although a full investigation will take nine months, says EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom.
- Under WTO rules, the EU could impose “provisional safeguard” tariffs for up to 200 days if it makes a preliminary finding that increased imports have caused or are threatening to cause serious injury to its steel and aluminum sectors; the European Commission, which oversees EU trade policy, launched a study in late March into whether U.S. import tariffs would warrant action.
- Canada Prime Minister Trudeau says his government will do all it can to protect its steel and aluminum sectors from U.S. tariffs but indicated he was in no hurry to strike back, wanting to hold public consultations on any proposed retaliatory tariffs to make sure they were appropriate.
- Meanwhile, Alcoa (NYSE:AA) says it supports a “multi-pronged response," not tariffs, to the problem of excess global production capacity in aluminum after the U.S. levied tariffs, senior VP of global government affairs Michelle O’Neill said today at an aluminum summit in Montreal.
- Aluminum associations from the U.S., Canada, Europe and Japan call for a multilateral and governmental forum and monitoring system on overcapacity, mainly driven by China.
- Potentially relevant tickers include AA, CENX, KALU, CSTM, ARNC, X, AKS, CLF, NUE, MT, CMC, STLD
- ETFs: SLX, FOIL, JJUB
- Now read: Aluminium Premiums See Little Impact As U.S. Tariff Exemptions Expire
Original article