China’s tit-for-tat tariffs may boost US metal makers

Bloomberg

China’s plan to counter US import tariffs may throw global aluminum and steel traders into a tizzy, but the net result could be a boon for American primary-metal producers. The retaliatory plan to slap tariffs on US aluminum scrap and some steel products may boost American supplies, lowering raw-material prices, says Zaner Group LLC’s Peter Thomas. That could coax some metal producers to restart unused capacity in Rust Belt states if infrastructure spending picks up.
“In Indiana they’re going to be making a huge push to get things fired up,” Thomas, a Zaner senior vice president, said.
One aluminum scrap trader agrees with the premise, but he says the other side of the coin is that suppliers could be the biggest losers. Marvin Polikov, a vice president at aluminum scrap trader Metal Exchange in St. Louis, also says companies need a lot of time before they can, and probably would, restart unused refineries.
Either way, Polikov is advising the world to stay calm and see how it all pans out—especially after the hysteria of Donald Trump’s original import tariffs was later doused when the US started doling out exemptions to some of its biggest metal suppliers.