If you weren’t in San Antonio last month for our special Fair Trade meeting and our impromptu Town Hall meeting, then you missed the most informative and impactful live discussions we’ve had in many years. During those sessions we covered everything from the curtain wall case to China 2016. The announcement from the Department of Commerce (DOC) that they were launching a circumvention case against China Zhongwang and the Chinese aluminum extruders for using the so-called 5050 alloy added a fiery backdrop to our dialogue. This year is pivotal for our case. In a matter of weeks we will learn from the International Trade Commission (ITC) and the DOC whether they will want a full Sunset Review or not in this, the five-year anniversary of the trade orders. We anticipate that it will be a full review, and we are preparing for that eventuality. While confidence is high that we will be granted another five years, we cannot take that for granted. Our first order of business is to collec
The Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC) has led the U.S. aluminum extrusion industry in achieving level competition by winning tariff protection that offsets unfair trade practices of extruders/importers of aluminum profiles produced in China. Our efforts have been of enormous value to domestic extruders and suppliers. Conservatively, an estimated 800 million pounds per year of extrusions are being produced in the U. S. that would have otherwise been lost to China.