White House announces new tariffs on Russian metals, including aluminium

The President of the United States of America, Joe Biden's administration, announced a new round of measures to mark the first anniversary of the Ukraine-Russia geopolitical crisis.

The statement said, "The measures will significantly increase costs for aluminium smelted or cast in Russia to enter the US market."

A few days ago, AlCircle reported that the US plans to impose a 200 per cent import tariff on Russian aluminium. The rounds of sanctions against Russia that were put in place due to the Russia-Ukraine geopolitical crisis largely spared metals.

Russia is one of the leading producers of aluminium ex-China and contributes 6 per cent to global production. However, according to industry experts, this will have a minor impact on the global aluminium market. Russian aluminium, which typically makes up 10 per cent of all US imports, is not a major seller to the US; nevertheless, this percentage has decreased even further in recent years.

Around 200,000 tonnes of aluminium goods were imported by the US from Russia last year, making up roughly 3 per cent of all US imports and a negligible portion of the about 95 million tonnes global market. After Canada, which had the highest market share, the UAE, Bahrain, and China, Russia was the sixth-largest exporter of aluminium into the US in 2022.