Most of U.S. aluminum comes from Canada. Industry says ‘good luck’ replacing it
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71 replies
If they weren't spread so thin and didn't already use up a lot of their weapon stockpile they would definitely invade and annex both Canada and Greenland.
Lotta aluminum in server chassis & racks.
Well they could recycle the aluminum they already have.
Theoretically. But they won't because they probably think recycling is gay or something dumb like that.
Hi! Former aluminum process engineer here. Caution– not a metallurgical engineer.
Really simplified version: if you recycle car body parts and cans and radiators and building metal, you can't make car body parts again out of them without diluting impurities down with prime (new) aluminum. So to recycle it is amazing, better than most products (since it offsets a TON of energy, way more than the same workable unit of glass or steel or anything). But just recycling doesnt fix it, you need some prime. Most of the US prime comes by way of Ontario, China, or Australia. Since a lot of the aluminum production is on the East coast in general, Ontario sees the most of it.
Seems like a very effective way to impact the US in response to the ridiculous tariff/trade negotiation situation
Having not yet read the article my guess is they ship it North to take advantage of cheaper electricity in places like Quebec
Nah Quebec just produces a lot of aluminum. US does recycle aluminum, just a lot of it goes to the landfill.
This was due to greedy capitalist gutting the US Aluminum business decades ago. Its always the real citizens that pay and these leeches slime their way by.
I initially read this as, "Fuck Abbot" and thought, "What did he do to piss off Canada." But yeah fuck Abbot.
You should put a "Don't tread on me" snake with your provinces on them. Or even the other nations in North/South America.
That would piss off sooo many MAGAs that clearly don't even remember what it meant
This is the 2026/fascist edition:
Will TACO Tuesday be the 1st or 8th? Or is he afraid of TACO due to lettuce, beef, and jalapenos?
welp, soda can deposits will go up to 25 cents each now. I guess I wanted to quit drinking soda anyway.
Take your empties in for the deposit?
They were buying that aluminium, transforming it and selling the resulting product for 10-100x the cost of it. For every dollar Canada loses from not selling aluminium to the US, the US loses a several times more.
And Canada has already found replacement buyers in Europe for it. When they realise their mistake the US will come crawling back for it and Canada will say "sorry, we've already got takers"
I am convinced that nobody in the Trump administration has any understanding of economics whatsoever. It's like their entire understanding of prosperity comes from watching mob movies.
They're all rich kids. Their entire life is first intimidate people with "do you know who my father is" and later on to threaten to sue people until the other side backs down or runs out of cash. It's a lousy way to run a country but they don't know anything else, and especially can't deal when folks fight back successfully.
The premier of Manitoba advanced the idea that he's doing that on purpose to enrich his billionaire friends. Have American consumers pay more for their products to cover the tariff, then a few months later the tariff is deemed illegal, then the big corporations get a refund which they do not pass back to the consumer.
IMO I think it's a combination of people in his inner circle feeding him bad ideas, manipulating him into attacking Canada's economy. Some in hopes that a collapse of Canada's economy would allow them to turn it into a subservient resource colony, others because pushing away America's closest ally serves Russia's interest.
I don't understand why people keep making up dumb shit about him having an intelligent agenda.
He is a pudding brained, narcissistic sociopath. The end. He just does whatever the most recent person who flatters him asked. That's when he able to hold a thought long enough. You can see his mind wander in real time every time he talks.
He's the dumb tool for lots of invested interests, and that's one reason when he's gone, the problems he facilitated won't go away or be reversed any time soon.
Then explain how a pudding brained narcissistic sociopath managed to get himself elected as the commander in chief of the worlds most powerful army and economy in the world while simultaniously conducting widescale graft and corruption. Even if he isnt the brains behind the operation, he didnt trip, slip on the floor and accidentally fuck up into this level of success. Its calculated.
The narrative that he is a buffoon only serves to make people underestimate what him and those behind him can accomplish and look where thats gotten everyone.
Because winning elections has little to do with what policies you propose. This is something liberals at least struggle greatly to understand. It's what gets the Democrats nominating unlikable unelectable candidates because they have an impressive resume and a website full of consultant-written policy papers. Voters know that no policy proposal survives election day, so what policies you're running on means very little. What matters is your vision and general vibe. That's what actually wins elections, not being the smartest or the most qualified. You can bitch and moan all you want about this reality, but it won't change a damn thing.
Trump beat Clinton even though Clinton had a resume and intelligence that blew Trump's out of the water. He did so because Clinton came across as unlikable and inauthentic. He had a vibe voters liked, Clinton didn't.
The whole reason he is where he is boils down to the fact that he spent decades building a cult of personality, and he happens to be a world-class, shameless liar. It is the kind of trait you see in high-functioning psychopaths who can look you dead in the eye and invent reality on the spot.
Look at his actual track record. Every single business venture he has touched has cratered because he treats companies like cash cows to bleed dry, taking his cut and running right before the whole thing collapses. The genius businessman myth is total fiction. He is not a visionary operator. He is just a walking billboard for everything broken about American culture, where a massive chunk of the population is genuinely fine lighting their own lives on fire as long as they think the people they hate are getting hurt worse.
His entire M.O. is a constant loop of whining about being the victim while giving everyone else an excuse to be absolute garbage human beings. He built an entire movement out of spiteful, miserable assholes who were just waiting for someone to give them permission to lean into their worst impulses and call it fighting back.
He's just really good at working a crowd. You could certainly see that in the beginning. He shamelessly and with great passion just spits out things he heard, be them true or not. Sometimes he gets a boo. That subject is dropped and when a reporter asks he'll just flat out deny it was even mentioned. If something gets a reaction he runs with it. After some time he got a bunch of subjects that he could really hammer to make the crowd go wild and then he takes them national. And if those things don't work in practice that's a worry for another time.
*Premier of Manitoba, Wab Kinew.
Premier is the head of our provincial (akin to a state) governments, Our Prime minister is the head of Canada. (like the United States president)
It's more devious than that. If you create a shortage the price of things increase. A 50% tariff is so unreasonable you may as well say you're just not importing that product any more. Let's say American companies control 90% of the market share of a product Canadian companies have 10%. Eliminate the Canadian products from the market, and there's an instant shortage. Following the supply and demand model, prices increase on that 90% they produce. That price increase is pure profit.
Theoretically if the tariffs were permanent American companies would expand and eventually replace that missing 10% that used to be supplied by Canadian companies. But no one for a second believes any Trump policy is permanent so no one is investing anything to increase their production. So it's just collecting extra profits while there's an artificially created shortage.
But the timing of this makes me think that Trump actually expected Carney to cave. If he's really to do some kind of "economic D-Day" (assuming that means tarriffs on countries that trade with Iran, but who knows?) it's incredibly stupid to start a trade war with Canada at the same time. Also mid-term elections are coming up, so it's really stupid to randomly start a trade war right now. So while there is incentive there for wealthy people to make money, I think this one is more about Trump just fucking up.
He's got the intelligence and long term planning of a squirrel going for that one acorn in the middle of the dog park.
Squirrels bury nuts for winter. Granted, they often forget where but their solution is to bury so many they will inevitably find some again. This is a level of planning and self-understanding that is so far above Trump and his administrations head it might as well be an alien concept from a different galaxy.
So we will need you to apologize to the squirrels because your statement is highly insulting to them.
So you're saying they... "Flood the zone"?
They're like the 5th grade bully who picks on 2nd graders. Until they finally pick on a 4th grader, gets punched in the face, whines that the 4th grader cheated or pulled a cheap shot, then goes to beat up a 3rd grader who kicked em square in the nuts, and now they're going back to 2nd and 1st graders to prove how tough they are
accurate, except these pissants clearly didn't make it past kindergarten.
This is actually perfect timing because Aughinish, the only alumina refinery in Europe IIRC, is under investigation for supplying the Russian military and there's talk of shutting it down.
EDIT: actually nvm
https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2026/07/24/aughinish-alumina-investigation-makes-no-adverse-findings-against-co-limerick-plant/
don't forget to add surcharges to the electricity we're selling them
fuck it, add a surcharge to the materials we're selling too, just so it shows up as a separate item from the tariffs on the sale
jokes on you, canadian, we already give all our spare money to another foreign country who I'm not allowed to name. You will get nothing! We win again!
The world stands behind Canada right now and US has permanently destroyed its reputation
I don't care if you didn't vote for him, the country literally elected a pedo rapist twice and is not doing a single thing to fix it
Must be embarrassing as fuck to be an American. I really do lump you all together as morons at this point
Its been embarrassing for a long long time. Its just sort of a dull pain behind the back of our eyes now, like nails being driven into them all day every day. You get used to it. If its worth anything at all, regular Americans still think Canada and Canadians are pretty great people.
My city is full of Americans tourists and we still love you. But we think you guys are really dumb unfortunately.
I was at butchart gardens the other day and some American said loudly "wow it's amazing they can grow flowers in a cold country" lol
It is. The most annoying thing, socially speaking, is that the ones who should feel most embarrassed absolutely are not.
Yeah, that tracks, stupid and proud may just be The American Way™
(sorry for the sane people taken hostage by moronic greedy sociopaths all the same, I know there's at least a few of you)
There's at least 6 of us.
The American century of humiliation
Doesn't even have a severe case of opium addiction. Just raw uncut arrogance, stupidity, and wrath.
Americ absolutely does have a severe case of opium addiction, have you not ever heard of Fentanyl before?
Come to think of it, you do have a point. Not sure if that makes things any better...
Fair enough, can't say I blame you
Cool. Fuck you too, buddy.
No, no. He's right. I didn't vote for him. I did vote. I wish I didn't live here. I'm doing what I can since getting out isn't really an option, but we have to acknowledge the damage and turmoil we as a collective are doing to the citizens of the world. The orange pedo might be making you're life or my life fucking miserable, but we are still probably better off than any of the families of the school children he bombed.
Telling any of them that you didn't vote for him isn't going to make them feel any better while the amount of suffering he is causing us is a fraction of the suffering he is causing other people. I'm not saying you can't be upset or that your suffering isn't valid. It's not a zero sum game, I'm just saying I think it's worth understanding where the rest of the world might be coming from right now.
Great quote
You don't know the first thing about how much I suffer.
You don't have to look in the mirror.
Sure, but you don't know the first thing about how much everyone else is suffering as well.
Yeah fuck you and your shithole country
Even if kamala won you'd still be bombing iran and there would still be tariffs on canada
true about iran, and supporting the zionists with whatever they want. Not sure why we'd be tariffing Canada under Harris, but you might be right. The Dems do whatever they are bribed to do.
We were tariffed under biden but not to this extent
Your opinion is worthless, as you have demonstrated yourself incapable of the most basic nuance. You're just one more social media brainwashing victim.
The US has always made my life worse, the mask has just finally come off
Damn son, you’re an idiot
Yet another American that thinks they are the center of the world
Travel internationally and wear your flag as a patch on your backpack and let me know how that goes for you. The human suffering caused by your country must be well over your head
Best case scenario is things turn around in midterms, but still, nobody is going to like americans for at least another 100 years
lol yeah, most here are painfully aware. But you’re still a faeget
No, most people are not aware, and neither are you obviously.
Calling someone a gay slur as an insult? Stay classy america
K
If the USA had a good recycling system this wouldn't be a problem.
A lot comes from the gulf area too. 3 of the top 10 smelters. Prime targets for Iran
Wasn't sure if you meant the Persian Gulf or the Gulf of Messo-America.
Cause it's pretty common to find smelting plants anywhere energy is cheap. Canada produces aluminum because they have a ton of cheap petroleum and coal. If they aren't producing at the same volume, that could be a nice change of emissions policy.
What is the Gulf of Messo-America?
AFAIK Mesoamerica is a region, and the gulf in that region is called the Gulf of Mexico..
The Canadian aluminum smelters in Arvida and Kitimat were built at the same time as the hydro electric plants that power them. The hydro generation plants were built by the Aluminum Company of Canada (Alcan) and excess power goes into the electricity grid. Very difficult to compete with that.
Canada tries to use natural gas and hydroelectric.
Persian gulf States us gas or oil. Not exactly sure. Iceland uses thermo electric for theirs but scale is smaller.
Edit added link
https://natural-resources.canada.ca/minerals-mining/mining-data-statistics-analysis/minerals-metals-facts/aluminum-facts
No wonder Trump hates them
The world is healing