Local lawmakers, industry experts emphasize need for greater domestic aluminum production

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — Monday afternoon, local lawmakers and leaders in the aluminum industry held a panel discussion to emphasize the importance of keeping production of the materials here in the U.S.

According to the host of the luncheon and panel discussion, The American Primary Aluminum Association, between 2013 and 2018, the U.S. lost over half of its production of aluminum and steel to foreign countries like China and Russia, when the countries flooded the global marketplace with unfairly traded aluminum.

The association reports that it wasn’t until 2018 when former President Trump signed Section 232 Aluminum Tariffs into law that the industry began to turn around.

The panelists also commended the Biden administration, which imposed a 200% tariff onto aluminum imports from Russia.

Congressman Joe Wilson says since these tariffs have been in place, thousands of new manufacturing jobs have been created here in the U.S.

“Because clearly there was an effort to destroy the American capability of aluminum production and it needed to be addressed. And to me, it’s never been more important,” says Wilson.

That importance, Wilson says, relates to national security and the creation of military equipment used by American service members — like the production of fighter jets.

William Smith is the Military and  Veteran Services Representative for Senator Lindsey Graham. He believes U.S.  made aluminum is critical for not only the morale of soldiers but their survival.

“The fact that we would put anything into our military equipment that came from China or Russia is just hilarious. So that is just something that we cannot do. Because they do not have our best interests at heart nor do they want to see us succeed. So any parts or anything that goes in any equipment for our soldiers– we need to make sure it’s of the highest quality and doesn’t fail them when we need it the most,” Smith says.

A.J. Nelson with Century Aluminum Company in Mt. Holly believes these tariffs help strengthen the domestic supply chain, and allow the company to create more jobs.

“Since the tariffs have been put in place, they’ve invested over 90 million dollars back into our plant alone. We went from 50 % capacity to 75% capacity which is huge, with plans to get back to 100% capacity. But again that’s what the tariff’s help us do,” Nelson says.

The association finds that the aluminum industry is responsible for over 10,000 jobs nationwide, and over 400 jobs at Century’s Mt. Holly location.

“One thing I look at, is you know, President Trump signed the tariffs. And President Biden continued to do it, so this is not a red or blue issue, this is an American issue. Right? And we have to keep the workers in front of us because without the workers, nothing else matters. So how do we keep good jobs, how do we keep people employed, and how do we support our military and defenses so we actually have a fighting chance, because the last thing we want to do is go to a fight and say, ‘Hey, timeout, can I borrow some of your aluminum? That’s not good,” says Nelson.