Canadaโs Aluminium Is Going to Europe. Brilliant Work, Donald.
A 50% tariff on Canadian aluminium, the one country on Earth that was happily selling the stuff at sensible prices, right next door, through an integrated supply chain that took decades to build. And now that aluminium is sailing across the Atlantic to Europe instead.
Canadian exports to the EU went from near zero to between 6% and 40% of monthly totals in the space of a year. Just vanished eastward. Extraordinary result.
US consumers are now paying $6,200 a ton for aluminium. Europeans are paying $4,300. ๏ฟผ American manufacturers taxed nearly two thousand dollars a ton more than their competitors. For beer cans. And car parts. And buildings. Tremendous. Nobody could have seen that coming, except everyone.
Meanwhile Europe, which was already scrambling after losing its Middle Eastern supply to the Iran war, now faces a 5.6 million-ton aluminium deficit in 2026. ๏ฟผAnd Canada just filled it. With metal that used to go to America.
The head of the Aluminium Association of Canada put it with admirable restraint: the EU option โremains attractive,โ adding pressure on the US market. ๏ฟผWhat he meant was: Washington handed Europe a competitive advantage in manufacturing while American industry pays the bill.
This is what happens when a trade guru who has spent his career slapping his name on buildings in gold letters decides he understands global commodity flows. No leverage materialises. Just an empty dock in Ohio and a very pleased purchasing manager in Rotterdam.
Well done, Donald.
Gandalv / @Microinteracti1
Joe Rogan to James Talarico: โPeople like you, Iโd like to see more of in politics. You need to run for president. We need someone whoโs actually a good personโ