The world’s second-biggest miner is also Canada’s biggest aluminum producer, and sells the vast bulk of the metal in the US. The miner said it incurred gross costs of $321 million associated with US tariffs on aluminum, but it added that a “substantial part” of that has been clawed back from higher premiums on US sales.
Metals industries are adjusting to the trade tumult unleashed by Trump this year. He slapped blanket 25% import fees on steel and aluminum in March, before raising those to 50% in June. A planned 50% tariff on copper triggered market mayhem, and the administration is probing potential measures on other metals.
Rio said premiums in the US market — paid on top of exchange prices — rapidly adapted to the initial 25% tariff, but were not fully compensating for the 50% level by the end of the second quarter. The company shipped about 723,000 tons of aluminum to the US in the first half — equivalent to about three quarters of its output from Canada.
Futures tracking aluminum prices in the US have pointed to higher costs for American buyers. Contracts linked to the premium on the metal delivered to the Midwest have almost tripled this year to reach nearly 66 cents a pound, the highest since 2013.
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