The US Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration (ITA) is developing a new system to track aluminum products imported into the US.
Commerce included the development cost in its budget request to congress.
The new system will also have a mechanism to “provide an early warning system for import surges,” Commerce indicated in its budget request, which also includes a plan to modernize its current steel imports monitoring and licensing system.
The Aluminum Association welcomed the request and said such a monitoring system would help the industry, as well as government officials, better identify trade trends and address issues like misclassification and duty evasion.
The budget request also includes a $3mn cost from ITA to support the Bureau of Industry and Security in analyzing exclusion requests for Sec 232 tariffs from various US-based and foreign aluminum producers and suppliers. An additional $2mn has also been requested to enforce antidumping and countervailing duties on foreign aluminum exporters.
According to Lauren Wilk, the Aluminum Association’s vice president for policy and international trade, these measures will help “level the playing field” for workers in the US aluminum industry. However, she added that, in order to secure funding for such programs and establish them, much work remains to be done.