Trade Cheaters Are Killing America's Aluminum Industry Jobs | Opinion

A new 2015 Ford F-150 truck goes through the assembly line at the Ford Dearborn Truck November 11, 2014 in Dearborn, Michigan. The new 2015 F-150 is the first mass-produced truck in its class featuring a high-strength, military-grade, aluminum-alloy body and bed.

America’s economy continues to spur demand for consumer goods and manufactured products needed to rebuild roads, bridges, and other infrastructure. The nation has a historic opportunity to harness this growth to boost the middle class and build an economy for all. But only rigorous enforcement of fair-trade laws will safeguard the future and stop foreign companies from killing American jobs.

U.S. demand for aluminum extrusions, which are used in appliances, cars, patio furniture, window frames, and many other items, increased 26 percent from 2020 to 2022. Yet neither the hundreds of American companies making extrusions nor the 160,000 workers directly and indirectly employed by them benefitted.

The U.S. extrusion industry stands at a crossroads. The question is whether the U.S. industry will get the relief necessary to allow it to reinvest and re-shore capacity to hire more workers to support growing demand or if domestic manufacturers continue to lose money, hemorrhage market share, and lay off workers by the thousands because China and 13 other countries are allowed to dump extrusions into the U.S. at below-market prices.

China and the other nations subsidize the production of these goods and look the other way or incentivize this behavior as their manufacturers flood U.S. markets with them. These exports are not only unfair but illegal. They cost U.S. companies at least $788.5 millionin sales from 2020 to 2022, substantially damaging a $7 billion-a-year industry.

Aluminum extrusions, made by pressing heated aluminum alloy through a steel die to make various shapes, are lightweight, strong and corrosion resistant. The alloy is produced with a mix of recycled and primary aluminum, making the process more sustainable.

Demand for light-weight metals like aluminum is expected to continue to grow as the nation seeks to make its economy cleaner. Domestically produced aluminum extrusions will play a vital role in that effort.

America’s union workers are the most skilled and efficient extruder manufacturers in the world. They will out-compete counterparts anywhere on a level playing field and only want their peers around the world to abide by the same rules that they do.

To even the scales, the U.S. Aluminum Extruders Coalition last year joined forces with the United Steelworkers (USW), which represents tens of thousands of workers in the aluminum industry, in petitioning the federal government to impose antidumping and countervailing duties on trade cheaters.

Both the U.S. Commerce Department and International Trade Commission (ITC) subsequently launched investigations, which are due to wrap up in coming months. Underscoring the high stakes, U.S. senators from both parties joined the coalition and USW in demanding action to save American jobs.

U.S. companies faced a similar torrent of unfairly traded aluminum extrusions from China in 2010 and successfully petitioned the government for relief. But Chinese producers devised numerous ploys for circumventing the duties. Chinese companies incorporate extrusions into downstream products they ship to America. They also set up shop in third countries. Between 2020 and 2022, for example, U.S. importation of aluminum extrusions from Mexico increased by more than 80 percent, much of it from Chinese-owned enterprises.

And the threat continues to grow. China’s Xusheng Group recently announced plans for a Coahuila, Mexico, facility with six extrusion press lines.

It’s imperative that the Commerce Department and ITC impose new duties not only on China, but also on Mexico, Colombia, Malaysia, Vietnam and other countries dumping aluminum extrusions.

To stabilize domestic production and save jobs, the duties need to cover aluminum extrusions as well as the aluminum extruded components of larger parts and subassemblies. The government also must police U.S. markets to prevent China and other offenders from sneaking products into the U.S. through third countries.

Aluminum industry workers stand ready to do their part to move the nation forward. They just need the federal government to enforce trade laws and hold cheaters accountable.

David McCall is president of the United Steelworkers union and W. Brook Hamilton is president of Bonnell Aluminum.

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