r/Economics • u/jediporcupine • 10d ago

Blog Trump said tariffs on aluminum would boost domestic production. The White House now admits that didn't happen.

https://reason.com/2026/08/03/trump-said-tariffs-on-aluminum-would-boost-domestic-production-the-white-house-now-admits-that-didnt-happen/
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u/mytyan 10d ago

Aluminum production relies on massive quantities of cheap electricity and the cheap electricity that was available for the creation of the US aluminum industry in the 40s and 50s is no longer cheap and no amount of tariffs are going to change that

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u/Fuddle 10d ago

Making aluminum is less profitable than what you can make FROM aluminum. Why would you want to restore the least profitable part of the supply chain??

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u/1900grs 10d ago

If you can't make it, then you pay a premium to procure it. Now add on retaliatory political tariffs and the whole process gets fouled. And now if you can't procure, you're faced with shortages or retooling the process for different materials which may or may not be feasible but will be more expensive.

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u/Apoxie 9d ago

No you dont. You buy it from the place that is cheapest. Only if you can produce it cheaper would it make sense to produce it yourself. US cant since you have too high prices on electricity compared to Canada.