'Rubbish' tariffs drive Australian company out of the US

Australian silicon producer leaving US next week after 40pc tariff imposed Thu 6 Aug 2026 at 3:16pm , updatedThu 6 Aug 2026 at 3:21pm In short: Australia's only silicon manufacturer, Simcoa, says it will pull its business out of the United States on August 14. It says the Trump administration's decision to impose an additional 40 per cent tariff on its exports to the US make business untenable. What's next? The federal government says the move will not undermine Australia's critical minerals agreement with the US. Australia's only silicon manufacturer says it will pull out of the United States next week as a result of the Trump administration imposing heavy new tariffs on silicon metal imported from Australia. Simcoa vice-president David Miles said the company had no choice but to leave the US market for good. "As of August the 14th we're finished, we're out of there," he told Kirsten Aiken on The Business. "We have a limited amount of stock in warehouses there. Most of that's pre-sold. Once that's gone, we're out of [there]. "We will not be back to the United States." The announcement comes after the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) issued a ruling that a US industry was being "materially injured" by imports of silicon metal from Australia and Norway. It said the products were being subsidised by the governments of Australia and Norway and being sold in the US at less than fair value. "Commerce will issue anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders on imports of this product from Australia and Norway," the commission said. 'Absolute rubbish' On June 25 the US Department of Commerce issued its final affirmative determination in its anti-dumping duty and countervailing duty investigations of silicon metal from Australia and Norway. It found a 6.16 per cent dumping margin and a 32.57 per cent countervailing duty rate against Simcoa Operations. It will see a roughly 40 per cent additional tariff placed on Simcoa's exports to the US. A "countervailing duty" is an additional levy imposed on imported goods to offset subsidies provided to producers or exporters by the government of the exporting country. But Mr Miles told the ABC that Simcoa was not selling product in the US at less than fair value. "It's absolute rubbish, because we're not," he said. "It's just the way that US law is interpreted and, effectively, US law in this particular case is being weaponised by two domestic companies, both of which are not American, to exclude us from … the American market. "It's very disappointing because Simcoa has been very active in the United States for many, many years, and we were, you know, looking forward to very much being part of this supply chain of critical minerals, [in] this case being silicon. "We have fundamentally no choice. With this ruling we are now officially excluded from America. "We have to re-look at our strategy, which does not include the United States, because we are now locked out for years." Simcoa Operations Pty Ltd is a 100 per cent-owned subsidiary of the Japanese company Shin-Etsu Chemical. Mr Miles said the Australian government could try to fight the tariffs but he doubted that would lead anywhere. "Australia has a critical minerals agreement with the United States but, quite frankly, at the moment I'm left wondering what that's worth," he said. "It seems to me that the Americans want to cherry-pick that particular agreement, and just because you're a critical mineral, doesn't mean to say that agreement is valid." Mr Miles said Simcoa would have to look for other customers to make up the shortfall. "We have no choice, and fortunately there [are] some opportunities there because the world desperately needs to move away from China as the only supplier of solar panels," he said. "Those opportunities are now emerging for us in South-East Asia and India, and we already supply into Europe, so I just have to hope we can hang on long enough for those opportunities to emerge." Mr Miles said it was a shame that the relationship had come to this. "The Americans welcomed us into America to supply because they were short. They must import," he said. "Now it kind of feels like you've been given a big kick in the backside … on one hand you're encouraged [to go to the United States] and on the other hand you get a kick in the backside." Tariff doesn't undermine critical minerals deal: King On Wednesday federal Resources Minister Madeleine King said the Albanese government would speak to the Trump administration about the issue, and that Australia's trade envoys would try to help Simcoa find new markets. "We're one of the highest investors in the US economy," she said during a visit to Alice Springs. "We don't believe those tariffs should be applied at any rate … and we'll continue to make that case. There's no doubt it will damage some imports into the US." Ms King denied that the tariffs would undermine Australia's critical minerals agreement with the US. "No, we have to keep on all tracks with the US," she said. "They're a very important partner for us, certainly in terms of our defence, but also the development of other parts of our economy, in particular in critical minerals and rare earths. "They are driving large investments into projects here in Australia and that's very important. "We deal with the tariffs issue on its own because we have to. We do need to keep those other relationships going because they're vitally important to our national prosperity, but also, of course, our national security."