Trump Administration sets to checking the national security probe of aluminum imports

Once again, but this time for aluminium, U.S. launched an investigation to see if Aluminium imports from China and other countries damage national security. This step could lead to import restrictions on the metal.

Wilbur Ross, Commerce Secretary says investigation was similar to one announced last week for steel imports.

Firstly, unfairly traded imports were putting on the U.S. aluminum industry, causing several domestic smelters to close production in next few years. Ross told reporters the probe was lead by the extreme competitive pressures. Is this the real national security issue or just something called competitive prices? On which the world economy is based.

China’s position

China is seriously concerned by the probe and hopes to resolve the dispute through negotiations. As the world’s largest producer and exporter. Of almost all the base metals. Its economy mainly depends on this.

Secondly, The U.S. move is the latest of several potential U.S. actions. Aimed at stemming a rising tide of aluminum imports. The Commerce Department is investigating inducement that Chinese companies are dumping aluminum foil into the U.S. market below cost and benefiting from unfair subsidies.

Thirdly, Ross said part of the justification for the investigation was that U.S. combat aircraft. Such as the Lockheed Martin F-35 joint strike fighter and the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet require high-purity aluminum that is now produced by only one smelter, Century Aluminum Co. (Reuters)

Following, He said that company could probably meet U.S. peacetime needs. But not if the United States needed to ramp up defense production for a conflict. The same high-purity aluminum goes into armor plating for military vehicles. And the production of naval vessels.

“At the very same time that our military is needing more and more of the very high-quality aluminum. We’re producing less and less of everything. And only have the one producer of aerospace- quality aluminum.” Ross told a White House briefing.

The investigation aims

The investigation will determine if there is enough U.S. aluminum capacity to meet U.S. defense needs. And will also assess the effects of lost jobs, skills and investments on national security.

Although Ross said China was a major contributor to the global excess capacity in aluminum production, he said imports from other countries were also causing problems. The U.S. industry faces these problems because the other countries have lower production costs.

“This is not a China-phobic program, this has to do with a global problem,” Ross said.

Last November, a dozen U.S. senators requested that a U.S. national security review panel reject the $2.3 billion acquisition of Cleveland-based aluminum products maker Aleris Corp by China’s Zhongwang International Group Ltd. (Reuters)

Aleris spokesman Jason Saragian says the aluminum probe announced by the Commerce Department was unrelated to the ongoing review of the merger by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

“The broad inquiry will not affect the pending acquisition, because the transaction does not involve any imports from China.” (Saragian )