April 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. government has so far rejected requests from Ford Motor and other U.S. automakers for relief from aluminum tariffs after fires at a Novelis plant created supply bottlenecks for vehicles, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
Last week, Ford petitioned the Trump administration for assistance, asking officials for relief from duties at least until Novelis' aluminum rolling plant in Oswego, New York returns to full service, the report said, citing people with knowledge
of the conversations.
The discussions are part of ongoing conversations between automakers and the administration about the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, the report said, adding that the government had not budged so far.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Ford and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Novelis' Oswego plant, which supplies material for Ford's lucrative F-150 truck line, went offline last year after two fires. In February, parent Hindalco said that it aims to restart the plant towards the end of the second quarter.
While Novelis has been making up for lost production with aluminium from its plants in South Korea and Europe, the imported metal is subject to a 50% duty under the new tariff regime.
The plant also serves Stellantis and General Motors among other automakers, though Ford is a major consumer because its trucks largely use an aluminum body.
Ford reported an about 50% fall in quarterly profit in February to $1 billion as it absorbed the rise in costs from supply constraints caused by the fire at Novelis' Oswego plant.
(Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
