The United Steelworkers (USW) has filed a petition under Section 201 of U.S. trade law that seeks to stem a flood of imported primary unwrought aluminum that has seriously injured the American industry and threatens additional job and capacity losses.

A Section 201 petition allows President Obama to provide relief and implement an adjustment plan, if appropriate, once the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) finds imports are a substantial cause of the harm.

The USW petition claims that the domestic industry’s circumstances are critical. In such cases, the ITC is required to make a preliminary decision within 60 days. If the decision is affirmative, the president has another 30 days to decide on providing provisional relief. With today’s filing, a preliminary decision by the ITC should occur by June 17. If that is affirmative, the president would have until July 18 to decide on provisional relief.

Primary unwrought aluminium is produced from bauxite-derived alumina and comes in various purity grades with different alloys added for a wide variety of uses. Primary unwrought aluminium typically undergoes further processing by the original producer or other manufacturers.

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