B.C. smelter confident it will find non-U.S. aluminum buyers, minister says [Video]

The operators of the B.C. 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” that 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 figure 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, he said.

“There is a demand in the world for this. And in …