Century Aluminum CEO says tariffs will allow it to invest $100m, rehire workers

Michael Bless, the chief executive of Century Aluminum, said the tariffs announced by Donald Trump on Thursday would guarantee enough business that the company would go ahead with a $100m investment in a Kentucky plant that is now operating at 40 per cent of its capacity and rehire just under 300 workers.

“That’s quite a major investment for our company,” he told the FT. Mr Bless was at the White House for Thursday’s announcement that Mr Trump intends to order tariffs of 25 per cent on steel imports and 10 per cent on aluminium.

He also pushed back against the argument from other sectors that the tariffs would result in higher prices for consumers.

When aluminium prices fell 40 per cent three years ago, very few companies had lowered their prices, he said. Also, the impact of the tariffs on prices was likely to be smaller than many thought because of increased domestic production that would result from them, he said.

“The amounts that we are talking about are so small,” he said.

According to calculations done by the aluminium industry, he said, the cost of a six-pack of beer would rise just 1.5 cents even if the entire impact of the tariffs was passed through to consumers. Likewise, the cost of a small car would increase by just $35-36, he said.