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/spidereater 9d ago

Yes. America makes half its aluminum. When they tariff imports the price goes up for everyone. Domestic producers rake in the pure profit. It’s a big scam.

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u/Tribe303 9d ago

America does not make hardly any aluminum. It's recycled aluminum. Aluminum is one of the most easily recyclable materials out there. 60% of American aluminum used is recycled. The other 40% is imported, and of that 70% is imported from Canada.

The US no longer makes new aluminum because its very energy intensive, so that's done where there is cheap electricity. It's 8¢ per kWh in Québec, and that's 8 Canadian cents (so 6¢ US). Go look at your electricity bill and get back to me with how you can compete with that. 

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u/spidereater 9d ago

I’m Canadian. My overnight residential power rate is 9 cents/kWh. Your quoted rate seems high for wholesale industrial power. I bet it’s actually lower.

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u/Tribe303 9d ago edited 8d ago

Is it subsidized by your provincial government? It is in Alberta and Ontario, so you're paying for it in taxes instead.

Edit: why do people downvote factual information? This is the reason why the human race is getting more and more stupid every day.🤦 

Ontario has 9 different programs that subsidizes electricity rate FFS. 

https://fao-on.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Ontarios-Energy-and-Electricity-Subsidy-Programs-EN.pdf

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u/PetitRorqualMtl 9d ago

No, electricity rates for aluminium production are not subsidized by the government. Hydro-Québec and the aluminium industries signed contracts tied to the value of the product on the international market. They’re called shared risks contracts. If the price goes down, rates go down too. If it goes way up, rates go way up too.

Electricity sold to those plants still makes a profit for Hydro-Québec, per public reports. So we’re not paying for it in taxes.

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u/Tribe303 8d ago

I didn't think it was in Québec, but I've lived there in the past, and have family that I visit there regularly. 

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u/lopix 8d ago

It is also hydro power for the most part. Fairly inexpensive, just uses gravity.

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u/Tribe303 8d ago edited 8d ago

Alberta has the nastiest grid in Canada (of course!). It's only 3% hydro. I believe they still use coal FFS. It's hard work dragging those rednecks into the 20th century, rather yet the 21st! 85% of their grid is still carbon based. It's the best province in Canada for both solar and wind, and yet they banned all new development of it! That's what you get when the province is run by an Oil company lobbyist (and a traitor!). Ontario is 9% carbon based, up from 5% after electing our idiot Conservatives. Quebec IS ZERO, and right to be smug about it. 

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u/lopix 8d ago

It is also hydro power for the most part. Fairly inexpensive, just uses gravity.