B.C. minister says Rio Tinto confident it will find non-U. S. aluminum buyers

A major producer in B.C. is among those reacting to the latest economic bombshell from the U.S president.

The operators of the BC Works aluminum smelter in the province’s north are confident it will find non-U. S. markets for its product, the minister co-ordinating British Columbia’s response to tariff threats from the United States said Monday.

Ravi Kahlon said that B.C. Premier David Eby had recently met with Rio Tinto and the company had a “good level of confidence” fresh markets would be found in a “fairly quick way” for aluminum produced at the Kitimat facility.

The government has been working with Rio Tinto and others to work out how to move B.C. products to other jurisdictions since the moment tariffs were suggested by U.S. President Donald Trump, Kahlon said.

Though U.S. tariffs will have an impact “in the short term,” the province is comfortable new buyers will be found, with aluminum particularly in demand, Kahlon said.

“There is a demand in the world for this. And in particular from British Columbia, we do produce some of the lowest-carbon products in the world, and there’s still a demand for that,” Kahlon said.

Eby was on his way to the U.S. on Monday night for a joint mission to Washington with fellow premiers, to meet with Republican lawmakers and attempt to sway the president away from tariffs.

Kahlon spoke to reporters just before Trump signed an executive order to impose 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, including Canadian products.

The new duties came a week after Trump temporarily paused plans to hit Canada and Mexico with sweeping 25 per cent tariffs on goods and a lower 10 per cent levy on Canadian energy.

Kahlon added that interprovincial trade is “critically important” for many goods.

“We’ve been trying for years, from British Columbia, actually leading conversations, to have some of those barriers be removed, and only now are we seeing some real progress and some meaningful conversations with all partners across the country,” Kahlon said.

“So I’m very hopeful that now we’ve got the political will from other provinces to see some of these things across the line, and that’s something the premier has been needing with the other premiers across the country.”

Rio Tinto’s aluminum smelter and hydropower facility in Kitimat was one of the largest contributors to B.C.‘s manufacturing GDP in 2023, according to its website, contributing over $517 million to the economy with aluminum output of 377,000 tonnes that year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 10, 2025.

Marcy Nicholson, The Canadian Press