Arizona Capitol Times
By Brook Massey
May 24, 2024
Arizona’s manufacturing companies are facing a serious challenge—an onslaught of unfairly traded aluminum imports that threaten American jobs. As president of MI Metals, an aluminum extruder in Prescott Valley, I see firsthand the resilience and ingenuity of U.S. industry. But it is impossible to compete with foreign importers that don’t play by the rules.
Extruded aluminum is everywhere, from window and door frames to aerospace equipment. It also is crucial in the transition to a green economy, a cornerstone of sustainable development. Yet despite the product’s ubiquity and growing demand, the U.S. extruded aluminum industry is endangered. Fourteen countries led by China are flooding the U.S. with dumped and subsidized aluminum extrusions, wreaking havoc on a $7 billion industry.
China’s constrained economic growth, triggered in part by a collapse in a real estate sector reliant on aluminum extrusions, lies at the heart of this chaos. China’s economic downturn has led to persistent overproduction and the export of surplus supply. This means that producers in third countries like Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan, Ecuador, and Colombia are being pushed out of their own markets and turning to the U.S. to dump their extrusions. The surge in cut-rate imports has intensified in recent years, posing a significant threat to U.S. producers.
Aluminum extruders in the U.S. directly employ 37,000 workers, many union members, and indirectly employ another 160,000 people. Those jobs, including many here in Arizona, are in jeopardy as the onslaught of unfairly traded imports continues.
Brook Massey
