On September 15, 2020, the US Trade Representative (USTR) announced that it was suspending the 10% additional duty on Canadian non-alloyed, unwrought aluminum retroactively to September 1, 2020 after consultations with the Canadian government.

The US originally imposed tariffs on Canadian aluminum and steel in 2018 under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 through Proclamation 9704 of March 8, 2018. Negotiations with Canada resulted in Proclamation 9893 of May 19, 2019 excluding Canada from the tariffs imposed by Proclamation 9704 but subject to conditions of monitoring and effectiveness. The tariffs on non-alloy, unwrought aluminum from Canada were reimposed by Proclamation 10060 of August 6, 2020 on Adjusting Imports of Aluminum Into the United States  effective August 16, 2020.

USTR said that average monthly imports are expected to decline 50 percent from the monthly average in the period of January through July. USTR expects that shipments of non-alloyed, unwrought aluminum from Canada for the remainder of 2020 will be no greater than the following monthly volumes:

September83,000 tons
October70,000 tons
November83,000 tons
December70,000 tons

Based on these expectations, USTR said the United States will resume duty-free treatment of non-allowed, unwrought aluminum retrospective to September 1, 2020.  Six weeks after the end of any month during this period, the United States will determine whether actual shipments met expectations.  If actual shipments exceeded 105 percent of the expected volume for any month during the four-month period, then the United States will impose the 10 percent tariff retroactively on all shipments made in that month. 

If shipments in any month exceed the expected volume, the United States expects that shipments in the next month will decline by a corresponding amount. 

In addition to the forgoing, if imports exceed 105 percent of the expected volume in any month the United States may re-impose the 10 percent tariff going forward.

The United States will consult with the Canadian government at the end of the year to review the state of the aluminum trade in light of trade patterns during the four-month period and expected market conditions in 2021.