We do have the benefit of the experience we had the last we confronted this, but I think there are some differences with respect to what we're facing now.
The bottom line in all of this is that the U.S. cannot meet its domestic demand with its own domestic production. The U.S. produces less than two million tonnes on an annual basis but consumes more than five million tonnes, so it simply does not produce enough domestically to satisfy its domestic market. That means they have to import. We have been, we would argue, the most reliable, the most long-term and the most consistent supplier of aluminum to the U.S. for dozens and dozens of years.
If the U.S. were to consider imposing this additional tariff on exports of Canadian aluminum to the U.S., that would obviously put a further penalty on our exports to the U.S. At the same time, it would mean that in the context of what they say is a national security investigation, with a national security rationale for imposing these tariffs, the impact would be that our exports to the U.S. of aluminum would face competition, primarily from Russia and China. Russia and China would gain a greater market share in the U.S. of aluminum at the expense of Canadian exports.
We have a hard time understanding how that relates to national security considerations, given the kinds of exports we have been providing on a consistent basis. Since, as I mentioned, the U.S. does need to import aluminum because of their insufficient domestic production, we feel that the kind of action they're contemplating is entirely unjustified.