Gulf aluminium producers believe it is too early to predict the impact of President Donald Trump’s plan to impose 25 percent tariffs on imports of the metal.

The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which accounts for 9 percent of global aluminium production, export 600,000 tonnes per annum to the US, making them a key source of the metal to that market, according to statistics from Dubai-based Gulf Aluminium Council 

“I believe it is too early to predict the impact of Trump's tariff decision on the Gulf aluminum exports,” said Mahmoud Al-Daylami, Secretary General of the Gulf Aluminium Council .

He told Saudi daily Aliqtisadia on Tuesday that US consumers, however, could bear the brunt of Trump’s decision since the country imports most of its aluminium.

The US consumes around 6 million tonnes of aluminum per year while domestic production does not exceed one million tonnes per year, he noted.

“The GCC countries are considered one of the major sources of aluminum products for the US market…I believe that Trump’s tariffs basically target Canada and Mexico, which are among the major markets that supply the US with aluminum,” Al-Daylami said.

GCC states of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman produce nearly 6.45 million tones oil aluminum per year and nearly two thirds of their exports target Japan, South Korea and other Asian markets. In 2024, primary production from the top six companies stoood at 6,454,738 MT.

Smelters in the six members, which created their political, defence and economic alliance in 1981, were estimated in 2022 to have pumped nearly $58 billion into their aluminum industries, as part of the drive to diversify their oil-reliant economies. 

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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