Aluminum

Join SMU and AMU on Wednesday for a Community Chat on aluminum, tariffs, and trade
Written by Michael Cowden
May 9, 2025
Tariffs, sanctions, and embargoes, oh my! And they’re hitting aluminum just as hard as steel.
So join SMU on Wednesday, May 14, at 11 am ET (10 am CT) for a special Community Chat focusing on the impact of Trump’s trade policies on the aluminum market.
We’ll bring you expertise from Aluminum Market Update (AMU), an SMU sister publication that’s scheduled to launch this summer.
You can register here. The live webinar is free for anyone to attend. A recording will be available only to SMU subscribers.
What we’ll talk about
AMU Senior Adviser Greg Wittbecker will address not only US tariffs but also evolving trade routes – and how supply chains are (or aren’t) adjusting. He’ll also touch on broader industrial impacts, from auto layoffs to the potential ripple effect of maritime tax policies.
AMU Managing Editor Gabriella Vagnini will bring the key takeaways from AMU’s latest aluminum market survey. Will we see muted optimism or more tariff anxiety? She’ll also unpack what the latest noise out of Washington actually means for automakers and their aluminum suppliers. Are we seeing real shifts or just shiny distractions?
And we’ll take your questions too. So register and bring some good ones to the Q&A on Wednesday, May 14, at 11 am ET.
Editor’s note
Are you looking for the latest aluminum market intelligence? You can be among the first to pre-register for AMU. To do so, reach out to AMU Senior Editor Gabriella Vagnini at gabriella.vagnini@crugroup.com.

Michael Cowden
Read more from Michael CowdenLatest in Aluminum

SDI’s Pushis leaving for titanium, Alvarez stepping up
Longtime Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) executive Glenn Pushis will be retiring from the company to become CEO of a Project Aero, a company that plans to build a titanium plant in North Carolina. Pushis joined SDI in 1994 and was part of the team that built the SDI’s first mill in Butler, Ind.

Wittbecker on Aluminum: When do the tariffs reach Main Street?
Containers sailing from China in April are down 15%-20% and Hapag Lloyd says their future bookings transpacific are down 30%.

Wittbecker on Aluminum: US-China trade war clobbers cross-Pacific trade
Container shipping lines have sharply increased blank sailings on Transpacific routes in response to escalating trade tensions between the US and China.

Wittbecker on Aluminum: Can port fees bring US shipbuilding back?
Representatives from bulk commodity shippers and consumer goods argued against the fees, saying it could cripple supply chains because of the very dominance that China has in the existing shipping fleet.