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Sanctions on Russian Aluminum Do No Harm to a US Automaker, Despite Russian Claim


RUSSIA -- Aluminium ingots are seen stored at the foundry shop of the Rusal Krasnoyarsk aluminium smelter in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, July 27, 2016
RUSSIA -- Aluminium ingots are seen stored at the foundry shop of the Rusal Krasnoyarsk aluminium smelter in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, July 27, 2016
Alexis Rodzianko

Alexis Rodzianko

President and CEO of the American Chamber of Congress in Russia

“If Rusal doesn’t deliver this metal (aluminum) to America … then producing enough cars (F150s) to meet market demands will be impossible, and this is a big loss.”

False
98 percent of the aluminum in the new Ford F150 is produced in the U.S.

On May 7, the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti published a story claiming that new U.S. sanctions against companies owned by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska (who is also personally a target of the U.S. sanctions) would seriously damage American businesses. The article cited Alexis Rodzianko, president and CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia.

Rodzianko explained that sanctioning Deripaska’s company Rusal, the world’s second-largest aluminum producer, would hurt companies like the Ford Motor Company. Using the popular Ford F150 pickup truck as an example, Rodzianko said the company would not have enough aluminum to supply the market demand for that model.

The Ford F-Series is a series of light-duty trucks and medium-duty trucks (Class 2-7) that have been marketed and manufactured by Ford Motor Company.
The Ford F-Series is a series of light-duty trucks and medium-duty trucks (Class 2-7) that have been marketed and manufactured by Ford Motor Company.

The 13th-generation (2015-present) Ford F-Series pickups have an aluminum body (as opposed to steel, which was used in previous models). However, Ford does not depend on Rusal or any other foreign source of aluminum to produce these trucks.

“F150 is only produced in the U.S.,” Christin Baker, a Ford Company spokesperson told Polygraph.info via email.

“95 percent of the steel and 98 percent of the aluminum used in U.S. production is sourced in the U.S.”

Baker said that company does not share information about its suppliers, but a little research shows that the new F150 design’s aluminum comes from Novelis, which claims to be “the leading producer of flat-rolled aluminum products and the world’s largest recycler of aluminum.”

USA -- North American International Auto Show in Detroit. January 9, 2017
USA -- North American International Auto Show in Detroit. January 9, 2017

Rodzianko’s choice is an interesting one, since the Ford F150 pickup truck is the most popular vehicle sold in the U.S., and one of the “most American,” according to the Kogod School of Business at American University in Washington, DC.

In any case, Rodzianko’s concerns may be moot, since Rusal has appealed the U.S. Treasury Department’s decision to sanction the company after Oleg Deripaska relinquished his controlling interest.

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