Aluminum Futs Slide As Trump Weighs Metal Tariff Rollback In Affordability Push

Aluminum futures in London slipped on Friday after a Financial Times report stated that the Trump administration is considering a partial rollback of steel and aluminum tariffs as it battles an affordability crisis (left over from the Biden-Harris regime years) ahead of November’s midterm elections.

The FT cited three people familiar with internal discussions who said White House officials are reviewing steel and aluminum import tariffs of up to 50%, which affect a wide range of downstream consumer products such as appliances to soda cans. The plan would exempt some products, pause further expansions, and shift toward narrower, product-specific national security investigations.

Trade officials at the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative believe these tariffs are already denting consumer sentiment by pushing up prices for goods such as drink cans and pie tins.

The administration is mulling carve-outs for popular food products to tame grocery-store inflation amid affordability concerns this year. Last year, Trump called for a trade war with Beijing ahead of the U.S. midterm elections.

News of the planned tariff rollback on aluminum and steel goods sent metal futures in London falling on Friday morning.

Aluminum slid 1.3% to $3,059 a ton on the LME. Zinc dropped 1.4%, while copper fell by about half a percent after available LME inventories posted their largest increase since July.

The Bloomberg Industrial Metals Subindex (core contracts: aluminum, copper, nickel, lead, and zinc futures) appears to have formed yet another peak since 2022 and is still trading well below its Covid-era high.

What is clear for companies operating in this space is that navigating the U.S. tariff regime has become arduous, with tariffs appearing to change monthly.