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(Bloomberg) — The chief executive officer of Rio Tinto Group (RIO.L) took the unusual step of hosting the UK company’s earnings from Washington, as part of a whirlwind trip to understand what President Donald Trump intends to accomplish with his expanding trade war.
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Jakob Stausholm, whose company is based in London and boasts almost half of its business and employees in Australia, said he would be spending the week meeting with US senators, congressmen and others. The CEO on Wednesday presented company earnings from the US capital that proved more resilient than its rivals.
“I’m here in Washington DC because I want to understand what the new government wants to achieve for America,” Stausholm said in an interview from the company’s offices. He said he’s not asking anything of the administration, but noted that “policies are being formulated by the day.”
It’s a significant move that indicates how seriously the chief of the world’s second-largest mining company is taking the new president’s tariff policies. Rio Tinto is the biggest supplier of aluminum to the US market, but about half of its 3.3 million tons of production was manufactured last year in Canada — which Trump has threatened to slap with 25% tariffs beginning next month.
Rio Tinto has a large presence inside the US, producing copper, gold, silver, tellurium, molybdenum and boron. The company in 2023 acquired a 50% stake in Matalco, which produces recycled aluminum in the US. The country last year consumed about 4.3 million tons of the metal used in everything from window frames to automobiles and iPhones. Canada represents about 70% of unwrought aluminum imports, according to researcher Harbor Intelligence.
Rio Tinto was a vocal opponent of the 10% duty Trump imposed on Canadian aluminum imports during his first term in 2018. Its lobbying, in conjunction with the US Aluminum Association, Alcoa Corp. (AA) and others, helped secure an exemption for Canada that has remained in effect.
However, concerns have returned as last week Trump announced he would rescind all exemptions and implement a 25% tariff in March on all aluminum imports coming into the country.
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