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Biden Scraps Trump's Bid to Lift Section 232 from UAE Aluminum

Written by Michael Cowden

February 2, 2021

President Joe Biden has revoked a decision–made in the waning days of the Trump administration–to remove Section 232 tariffs from aluminum imported from the UAE.

“In my view, the available evidence indicates that imports from the UAE may still displace domestic production, and thereby threaten to impair our national security,” Biden wrote in a presidential proclamation Feb. 1.

Trump’s removal of Section 232 from UAE aluminum had been scheduled to go into effect on Wednesday, Feb. 3, at 12:01 a.m. thumbs downBiden also dismissed any potential quota system for managing imports of aluminum from the UAE as “untested” compared to the tariffs, which he said had proven effective in reducing imports from the UAE and in increasing domestic aluminum production.

The president cited the Section 232 exclusion process as further evidence that tariffs should remain in place on material from the UAE. Of 33 requests to grant UAE aluminum a waiver to the tariff–10% in the case of aluminum–the Commerce Department granted only one. “This indicates the large degree of overlap between imports from the UAE and what our domestic industry is capable of producing,” Biden said.

Century Aluminum, the largest primary aluminum producer in the U.S., cheered the move.

“The Biden administration is clearly committed to rebuilding domestic manufacturing and protecting thousands of American aluminum jobs,” Century Aluminum President and CEO Michael Bless said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear what impact, if any, the action on UAE aluminum imports might have on foreign steel, where Section 232 tariffs are higher at 25%.

By Michael Cowden, Michael@SteelMarketUpdate.com

Michael Cowden

Michael Cowden is managing editor for Steel Market Update. Cowden has covered the steel industry since 2007. He specializes in flat-rolled steel but has also reported on steel long products, steel pipe and tube, and aluminum. Before joining SMU, Cowden held reporting jobs at Fastmarkets AMM in Chicago, the Associated Press in Pittsburgh, and the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh. He has also worked as a copy editor and in marketing at the University of Chicago Press. Cowden has a BA in English from the University of Chicago and an MSJ journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Contact him at michael@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7872.

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