The Trump administration just rolled out a new playbook for reshoring aluminum production: build a plant in America, and we’ll cut you a deal on tariffs. The program, formalized through the Federal Register on April 23, offers Canadian and Mexican steel and aluminum producers immediate tariff relief on their US-bound shipments, provided they commit to future investments in domestic manufacturing capacity.
The deal on the table
The program targets producers currently staring down Section 232 tariffs that were doubled from 25% to 50% as of June 2025. Foreign producers who commit to expanding or relocating production to the US get immediate tariff relief on current shipments. The administration’s stated goal is to push domestic steel and aluminum sectors toward roughly 80% capacity utilization. No specific companies have been publicly identified as participants in the program.
Industry says the math doesn’t work
Jean Simard, CEO of the Aluminium Association of Canada, didn’t mince words. He described the program as “unfeasible” and characterized the underlying economics as involving “fuzzy mathematics.”
