Importers of raw aluminum from Canada through the Port of Oswego have a temporary cushion from the hefty 50 percent tariff imposed by President Trump. The port of entry was designated a Foreign Trade Zone in 2023, where companies can find relief from paying at least some of the tariffs. Port Authority Interim Director Tom Schneider said, after election day, companies stockpiled material anticipating the tariffs, and again when the Trump Administration levied tariffs at 25 percent this spring.
“Just having that period of non-certainty has led those who are buying and storing and then reselling aluminum that is imported to be looking for solutions within the structures that allow it to sit foreign until a certain point in time in the future where the rate may be lower.”
Schneider said he’s less confident that will happen as time passes. While commodity brokers contract with the port to load, unload, store or transfer the aluminum from boat to rail or truck, he said finding a secure warehouse to store it all becomes the bigger challenge.
“Just got off the phone with the broker today who is looking to see if we could unload directly onto a bonded truck which would deliver it to a bonded warehouse,” Schneider said. “And when I talk to them further, they're still looking for the bonded warehouse.”
As a result, companies are ordering less aluminum, causing a 30 percent drop in port revenue. Schneider said they make up that loss by diversifying their delivery routes. Instead of sending raw aluminum to Novelis just down the street, they send it by rail to Novelis’ casting plant in Kentucky for making other products.
“We're fortunate to have that business,” Schneider said. “And I think that business was a long time in developing to create a domestic source.”
Meanwhile, the port continues to serve a wide-range of international clients as the state’s only grain export center on Lake Ontario. Its total operation exceeds a half billion dollars in economic impact, and supports more than 2,200 hundred jobs.
