This Morning in Metals: Aluminum Falls to 16-Month Low

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This morning in metals news, the aluminum price slides to a 16-month low, Liberty House could be looking to expand its presence in the Middle East and the mid-February deadline for the Section 232 auto investigation draws nearer.
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Aluminum Drops Post-Sanctions Delisting

The aluminum price continued to fall Monday after last week’s announcement on the delisting of previously sanctioned Russian companies.
According to Reuters, the LME aluminum price dropped 0.5% Monday, continuing the decline after the price hit a 16-month low last week.

Liberty House Continues on the Acquisitions Trail

As we noted last week, Liberty House recently acquired miner Rio Tinto’s Dunkerque aluminum smelter, as Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance continues to snap up assets.
According to a report in The National, the steel tycoon could now be turning to the Middle East, specifically the U.A.E.
According to the report, which cites a Liberty House official, the company is in talks to buy steel and aluminum assets in the country.

Section 232 Auto Probe Deadline Inches Closer

The Trump administration’s Section 232 investigation of steel and aluminum import levels came to a close in the spring with much fanfare, yielding blanket tariffs of 25% and 10%, respectively.
However, the administration didn’t stop using Section 232 then and there, as it launched yet another 232 probe in May, this time looking into imports of automobiles and automotive parts.
The law requires Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross to present a report to the president within 270 days after the launching of a 232 investigation, making for a mid-February deadline.
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In an interview with the Financial Times, Ross said his report is still a “work in progress” but also noted the president’s flexibility in terms of what he can do with respect to potential automotive tariffs.
The recently signed United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), inked during the Group of 20 summit in Argentina, included stricter auto content rules for tariff-free vehicle trade. The new trade agreement bumps the automotive content threshold from 62.5% to 75%. In addition, USMCA included a provision that 40-45% of auto content must be produced by workers making a minimum of $16/hour.

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