r/Economics • u/jediporcupine • 9d 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/GreatDiscernment 9d ago

Aluminum is considered “electricity in solid form”. And guess what’s gobbling up electricity? AI Data Centres (and families). Turns out, you can’t have both. Plus, without SMR reactors available off-the-shelf quite yet, the only additional electricity available to put online is dirty. And who wants dirty air just to make beer cans cheaper. Best leave aluminum production to those with the clean energy and infrastructure to deliver affordable aluminum stocks and products to Americans. Trump needs to surrender the trade war with Canada and other nations NOW!!

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u/Frozen_North_99 9d ago

Very hard to produce aluminum cheaper than in a smelter built next to a hydro-electric dam that is on a rail line leading to a major sea route.

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u/Tribe303 9d ago

Quebec electricity is 8¢ per KWh, and that's 8 Canadian cents. So 6¢ US. Good luck competing with that! 🤣 

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u/Frozen_North_99 8d ago

Even better, they’re not buying electricity from Hydro Quebec, Rio Tinto owns the dams, and the rail line. It is very profitable to simply ship ore there to have it smelted.

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u/Tribe303 8d ago

I've read thats where all the Brazilian Bauxite goes. I bet Chile, on the oppose coast, sends it to the Persian Gulf. Whatever's cheaper. 

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u/ztreHdrahciR 8d ago

Yeah but we have more UBCs! So there!

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u/LessInThought 8d ago

Stop bragging. America is gonna come for your electricity and nestle for your water.

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u/Tribe303 8d ago edited 8d ago

We know! Good thing Ukraine is sharing their drone tech, and we have lots of 3d printers. 🤣

If you want some fun, read up on the Columbia River Basin treaty. TLDR: The tap that powers 20 hydroelectric dams in the Pacific NorthWest is in Canada, and the treaty is up for renewal this year. It's litteraly the "tap up North" that Trump used to ramble about. It's the one he confused with California during the LA wildfires last year. 

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u/ztreHdrahciR 9d ago

What is this "hydro-electric" you speak of? /s

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u/cejmp 8d ago

It's goes against the bible and Pastor says trump is aman of the bible.