Alcoa Corp. reduced its demand forecast for the global aluminum market in a sign that China’s consumption may be slowing in the face of an escalating trade war between the two biggest users of the metal.

The top U.S. aluminum maker also reduced slightly its projection for a global deficit in the metal.

Key Takeaways

  • Alcoa, which didn’t support the tariffs that President Donald Trump slapped on aluminum imports earlier this year, warned in July that the levies were increasing the costs of shipments to the U.S. from its plants in Canada.
  • Aluminum prices in London have fallen by about 26 percent from an almost seven-year high reached in April in the wake of U.S. sanctions on Russian producer United Co. Rusal and amid rising global trade frictions.