Section 232 tariffs will be applied to steel imported into the United States from Mexico if those products were not melted in poured in Mexico, the Biden administration announced. The AISI applauded the decision.

It’s easy to look at the polarization inherent to the United States’ political system as all-encompassing, where one side of the aisle stakes out a position and the party from the opposite side immediately and enthusiastically embraces the other.

It isn’t often the head of a U.S. trade group lauds the implementation of tariffs by another country. But that’s just what Charles Johnson of the Aluminum Association did last week.

The Department of Commerce has issued final Antidumping and Countervailing duty determinations on tin mill products from several U.S. trading partners. Duty rates ranged from 0 percent to 122 percent.

The Aluminum Association, Instituto Mexicano del Aluminio and the Aluminium Association of Canada called for continued tariff-free trade, increased import monitoring and stronger trade enforcement in a letter to trade officials in Canada, Mexico and the United States. The letter came ahead of a summit in Mexico City highlighting the past and future of the North American aluminum trading relationship.

By holding inventory, master distributors serve vital, and unique, role in the metals supply chain. (Photo by Dover Tubular Alloys)

Inventories have been worked off throughout the aluminum space. Will demand force distributors to restock?

President Joe Biden welcomed European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel for a trade discussion that focused heavily on steel.

Metalforming companies continue to grow more pessimistic about business conditions over the coming months, according to the October 2023 Precision Metalforming Association Business Conditions Report. Prepared monthly, PMA’s report provides an economic indicator for the next three months of manufacturing, sampling 110 metalforming companies in the United States and Canada.

The Aluminum Extruders Council is asking the Department of Commerce to reconsider its tariff exclusion rules on extruded products. The trade group said that while the Section 232 tariffs have been effective at protecting primary aluminum producers, numerous carve-out exclusions have harmed the extrusion industry.

After decades of disregard, leaders in the nation’s capital have begun to see the light on the important role manufacturing plays in the country’s future.

On the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration imposed new economic restrictions on the country, including a 200 percent tariff on aluminum.

United Steelworkers applauded new tariffs on Russian metals and inputs and Section 232 relief measures on Russian aluminum. The Biden administration announced new 200 percent tariffs on Russian aluminum on the one-year anniversary of the start of Russian's invasion of Ukraine.

Despite some challenges, demand for all mechanical tubing remained healthy throughout 2022.

Ever since Joe Biden succeeded Donald Trump in January 2021, the new president has been unraveling many of the policies implemented by the previous administration. This is nothing new.

After two tumultuous years in the metals space, 2022 approached the more traditional conditions of the past.

Domestic steel groups criticized a ruling from the World Trade Organization challenging Section 232 steel tariffs imposed in 2018. The three-person panel ruled the tariffs "contravened global trading rules."

Since Joe Biden succeeded Donald Trump in January 2021, there have been few things from the previous administration the new president has held onto. Section 232 tariffs were one of the exceptions, with the 46th president making no moves to mothball the 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum products...