Rio Tinto fears impact of trade war concerns despite tariff exemptions
MELBOURNE – Global miner Rio Tinto sees fears of a trade war between the US and China weighing on its shares, even after the company won an exemption from US tariffs for its Canadian aluminium exports.
Nearly a third of all aluminium consumed by the US is supplied by Rio Tinto from Canada.
Canada escaped the 25% duty on steel and 10% on aluminium signed into law by US President Donald Trump this month, but Rio Tinto CEO Jean-Sébastien Jacques fears the impact of a broader trade war.
The real issue now is the "ripple effect" of what other countries are going to do in retaliation against the US tariffs, Jacques said.
"That's the one that really really concerns me," he said at a business event in Melbourne.
"The biggest concern that everybody has is a big trade war between China and the US. And we just hope that common sense will prevail."
Jacques said Rio Tinto's share price was a good proxy for the market's views. Its share price fell when the tariffs were first announced, but failed to recover when the exemption was granted for Canada, even though that had been the main risk for the company.
"So the markets are very nervous about it," Jacques said, referring to a potential US-China trade war.
Comments
The
content
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation