Alcoa calls on US Department of Commerce to further improve aluminum import monitoring and analysis system

SMM6, March 3: it was reported in early March that the International Trade Administration (ITA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce put forward a proposal to develop a new system to track imports of aluminum products and provide an early warning system for a surge in imports. The proposal has been incorporated into the draft budget for the next fiscal year in the Congressional report.

The American Aluminium Association said that the "Aluminum Import Monitoring and Analysis" (AIM) system will become a valuable tool for the entire aluminum industry chain in the United States. The Association has long supported the establishment of such a system as a key trade enforcement mechanism.

Tom Dobbins, president and CEO of the Aluminium Association, said the system will help government officials and industries better identify trade flows and solve the problems of misclassification, transshipment and tariff evasion. "

"it is now critical that the Commerce Department further refine its initial proposal and establish a system that applies to the entire value chain of the US aluminum industry."

The proposal requires US importers to identify the country of origin of imported aluminum and the country of production of aluminum raw materials in aluminum products when applying for import licenses. The Aluminium Association said that given the material characteristics and operational status of the aluminum industry, meeting this requirement would impose a great burden on suppliers and US importers (and take a lot of time).

In its comments, the association strongly urged the department to revise the requirements, taking into account the actual operation of the aluminum industry, to determine whether input materials can be reasonably tracked to achieve the government's goals.

The Alcoa Association has long called for the establishment of such a system to deal with the continuing damage to North American aluminum producers caused by lax enforcement of import regulations. Both Canada and Mexico gave assurances during negotiations on the US-Mexico-Canada agreement last year, when Canada promised to expand its import monitoring system for products from major exporters to include aluminium and derivatives. However, Mexico has not yet begun to monitor imports of aluminum.

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