The New York Times - USA (2020-08-07)

THE NEW YORK TIMES BUSINESSFRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 2020 N B3

TARIFFS | MEDIA

WASHINGTON — President Trump
announced Thursday that he was
reimposing a 10 percent tariff on
Canadian aluminum to help strug-
gling American producers, a step
that is likely to incite retaliation
and worsen ties with Canada just
one month after the countries’
new trade deal went into effect.
Speaking at a Whirlpool factory
in Clyde, Ohio, Mr. Trump said
that he had signed a proclamation
earlier on Thursday that would re-
impose the levy on Canada, accus-
ing the country of “taking advan-
tage of us as usual.”
“To be a strong nation, America
must be a manufacturing nation
and not be led by a bunch of fools,”
the president said. “That means
protecting our national industrial
base.”
Mr. Trump imposed tariffs on
steel and aluminum from Canada,
Mexico and the European Union
in early 2018, prompting those
countries to respond with their
own tariffs on American goods.
The levies on imports from Cana-
da and Mexico were not lifted until
the following year, when the coun-
tries reached an agreement as
part of the negotiations toward a
new North American trade deal.
But the United States retained
the right to reinstate them if it ob-
served a spike in metal imports,
which Mr. Trump cited on Thurs-
day.
“My administration agreed to
lift those tariffs in return for a
promise from the Canadian gov-
ernment that its aluminum indus-
try would not flood our country
with exports and kill all our alu-
minum jobs, which is exactly what
they did,” Mr. Trump said Thurs-
day. “Canadian aluminum
producers have broken that com-
mitment.”
For months, American and Ca-
nadian officials have debated
whether Canada’s rising imports
violate that agreement or consti-
tute a surge. Imports of Canadian
aluminum have risen since the
tariffs were lifted last year, but
they remain below levels seen
within the last few years.
The American aluminum indus-
try has struggled to compete in re-
cent years with producers in coun-
tries like China, Russia, Iceland,
the United Arab Emirates and

Canada that offer generous state

subsidies or benefit from cheap

electricity. Today, only a handful of

American aluminum smelters,

which make raw aluminum out of

bauxite, still operate.

Supporters of the tariffs say

that they have helped to revive

American production, but that im-

ports from Canada and the eco-

nomic slump that accompanied

the pandemic had once again

thrown the industry into disarray.

In April, the aluminum giant Al-

coa idled a smelter in Ferndale,

Wash., saying that production

there was “uncompetitive.”

Two American companies with

domestic aluminum capacity, Cen-

tury Aluminum and Magnitude 7

Metals, have lobbied intensely for

the tariffs to be reimposed. Mi-

chael Bless, the chief executive of

Century Aluminum, said on

Thursday that the move “demon-

strates this administration’s con-

tinued dedication to restoring the

U.S. aluminum industry.”

But the rest of the aluminum in-

dustry, which has operations

spread around the globe, includ-

ing in Canada, has fought against

the measure. The multitude of in-

dustries that use aluminum to

make products including cars,

beer cans and washing machines,

have also argued against the lev-

ies, saying they increase their

costs and make their products less

competitive globally. Even

Whirlpool, the appliance maker

where Mr. Trump made his an-

nouncement on Thursday, has

seen its costs for raw materials

rise as a result of the metal levies.

In June, executives from more

than 15 of the world’s largest alu-

minum companies, including Al-

coa, Constellium and Novelis, sent

a letter to the Trump administra-

tion arguing against the tariffs.

“Fully 97 percent of U.S. alu-

minum industry jobs are in mid-

and-downstream production and

processing,” the letter read.

“These jobs depend on a mix of do-

mestic and imported primary alu-

minum, including from countries

like Canada.”

Jim McGreevy, the chief execu-

tive of the Beer Institute, a trade

association of beer producers and

importers, said his group strongly

opposed the decision.

“Since the implementation of

aluminum tariffs in 2018, the

American beverage industries

have paid more than $582 million

in tariffs,” he said. “Increased alu-

minum premiums due to tariffs in-

crease the cost of beer production

and force brewers to make diffi-

cult business decisions — espe-

cially amidst a global pandemic

that has reduced overall sales

while simultaneously increasing

demand for aluminum cans.”

In a statement, Myron Brilliant,

the executive vice president of the

U.S. Chamber of Commerce,

urged the administration to recon-

sider.

“These tariffs will raise costs

for American manufacturers, are

opposed by most U.S. aluminum

producers and will draw retalia-

tion against U.S. exports — just as

they did before,” he said.

It remains unclear how or

whether Canada will retaliate for

the tariff. On Twitter, the premier

of Quebec, which is home to most

of Canada’s aluminum production,

called for retaliatory tariffs.

Trump Sets Tariff on Canada’s Aluminum

By ANA SWANSON

and IAN AUSTEN

President Trump said on Thursday that Canada had broken a commitment not to “flood our country with exports.”

DON MACKINNON/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

A reinstatement of a

levy, and retaliation

may follow.

NBCUniversal, the media giant

owned by the cable operator Com-

cast, has pushed out the leader of

its network entertainment group

amid a pending investigation into

claims of workplace harassment.

The company said Thursday

that Paul Telegdy, the chairman of

NBC Entertainment, would be

leaving the company. Mr. Telegdy,

a longtime television executive,

was about to be investigated by

outside counsel hired by NBCUni-

versal after accusations from sev-

eral Hollywood stars, including

the actress Gabrielle Union, that

he fostered a toxic work envi-

ronment.

Ms. Union was a judge on the

NBC prime-time hit “America’s

Got Talent.” She was ousted from

the show in 2019 after she alleged

instances of racist and otherwise

offensive behavior on the set. In

June Ms. Union filed a har-

assment complaint with Califor-

nia’s Department of Fair Employ-

ment and Housing against NBC-

Universal and the show’s

producers.

Mr. Telegdy, a former BBC exec-

utive, was made sole chairman of

NBC Entertainment in October af-

ter a series of executive depar-

tures, putting him in charge of

NBC’s prime-time lineup. Earlier,

he was responsible for the net-

work’s reality programming and

oversaw franchises like “The

Voice” and “American Ninja War-

rior,” in addition to “America’s Got

Talent.”

Mr. Telegdy’s departure comes

as Hollywood and the broader me-

dia industry has started to face a

reckoning over entrenched rac-

ism and gender discrimination on

studio lots and in network board-

rooms. The leadership of NBCUni-

versal and Comcast is composed

mostly of white men, as at many

other media conglomerates.

After Ms. Union lodged com-

plaints against the network, Mr.

Telegdy warned her agent that

she “should be careful of who she

called racist,” according to her fil-

ing with the state agency. The Hol-

lywood Reporter chronicled sev-

eral instances of Mr. Telegdy’s al-

leged behavior in a July 31 article

that prompted NBCUniversal to

conduct its investigation.

A spokesman for NBCUniver-

sal said that “more information

about the investigation will be

forthcoming.”

Separately, the company an-

nounced on Thursday a sweeping

change to its leadership ranks

across its NBC properties and ca-

ble networks.

The company consolidated its

various networks by breaking

down each unit. Each channel will

no longer be led individual execu-

tives and will now be overseen by

Frances Berwick, who will be re-

sponsible for the business of NBC

Entertainment and the cable en-

tertainment networks, including

NBC broadcast, Oxygen, USA and

Syfy. Ms. Berwick had previously

led the company’s lifestyle divi-

sion, a group that included E! and

Bravo.

The company said it would hire

a new head of

programming

for the enter-

tainment group

to work along-

side Ms.

Berwick. Both

executives will

report to Mark

Lazarus, the

head of NBC-

Universal’s en-

tertainment

and streaming divisions.

The reshuffling comes under

the leadership of Jeff Shell, who

took over as the chief executive of

NBCUniversal at the start of this

year. In May, the company an-

nounced the departure of Andrew

Lack, the longtime head of the

company’s news division. He was

effectively replaced by Cesar Con-

de, the chairman of Telemundo, in

a newly created role with broader

oversight.

NBCUniversal has come under

pressure as the pandemic contin-

ues to wipe out advertising reve-

nue and theatrical sales. The com-

pany this week started layoffs as

part of a program to cut about 10

percent of its 35,000-employee

work force.

Total sales for the second quar-

ter fell 25 percent, to $6.1 billion.

The company’s theme parks

group took a $399 million loss, and

sales at Universal Studios de-

clined nearly a fifth in the period.

NBCUniversal Pushes Out

Chief of Entertainment Unit

By EDMUND LEE

Paul Telegdy

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