TT: Insourcing aluminium

The high cost of production in the United States, in addition to the availability of considerable reserves of natural gas in Trinidad and Tobago, may see the establishment of an aluminium industry here. The industry, if established, will complement the aluminium smelter to be constructed at the La Brea Industrial Estate. It will come almost 30 years after late Prime Minister, Dr Eric Williams, had looked at “the... expanding market for aluminium in the automobile industry” as a major reason for the then proposed construction of an aluminium smelter.
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Trinidad and Tobago, because of the nearness of Guyana with its huge deposits of bauxite, from which bauxite is produced, and its (TT’s) more than adequate reserves of natural gas, a relatively cheap source of energy, is better positioned to turn out low cost aluminium and aluminium products than the United States. In addition, several US manufacturers have relocated to or set up completely new businesses in Mexico and to China where labour costs are far below those of the United States. The establishing of the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA), of which both the US and Mexico are members, and high wage levels and/or benefits negotiated by American trade unions had been crucial factors, for example, in the move to Mexico.

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