BUSINESS/COMMERCE/TARIFFS/TRADE WAR/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump’s aluminum tariffs have rattled global businesses, set off retaliatory levies and started to eat into profits of some major American companies. But they have also provided a lifeline to other United States businesses, like Century Aluminum, the struggling smelter in Kentucky that is at the heart of Mr. Trump’s trade fight. After years of foreign competition that eroded Century’s market share, prompted layoffs and put its smelter here on the brink of perpetual collapse, the company is now riding high. Century is planning to invest over $150 million to more than double output at the plant, and add 275 jobs in the process. The average salary and benefits package for a worker is $90,000 a year. On Wednesday 8-22-18], Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary, took a victory lap to mark the revival of Century, which is reaping the dividends of Mr. Trump’s trade war…According to the Commerce Department, the United States accounts for just 1 percent of global aluminum output and imports accounted for 90 percent of the aluminum market in the United States last year. China produces 49 times more aluminum than the United States, where only six smelters remain.”
–Alan Rappeport, “Trump’s Tariffs Are Paying Off for Century Aluminum,” The New York Times online, August 22, 2018