AMERICANMADE
Forget SpaceX, Elon Is Now Powering the Next Hot IPO
While everyone was distracted by the SpaceX IPO, Elon Musk quietly started backing a NEW AI startup…
That has been called "the fastest-growing business in the history of capitalism."
Even though this has nothing to do with robots, self-driving cars, and rockets…
It's growing faster than Tesla… faster than SpaceX… and even 23 times faster than Nvidia.
A farmer in Iowa ordered a new combine last spring. Price tag: half a million dollars.
Inside that machine? About 20,000 pounds of steel. Until June 8, every pound carried a 25% tariff. Even when the steel was American.
That just changed.
On April 2, President Trump overhauled Section 232. That’s the trade law that lets the president put tariffs on imports for national security reasons.
The changes hit hard. Tariffs jumped to 50% on raw steel, aluminum, and copper. For the first time, they applied to the full value of the finished product. Not just the metal inside.
Country exemptions? Gone. Every nation except the U.K. now faces the same wall.
But there was a problem. American manufacturers that build things with metal got caught in the crossfire. A bulldozer made in Illinois with Indiana steel still got tagged on imported parts.
Farm equipment makers pushed back. So did HVAC builders and forklift companies.
On June 1, Trump signed a fix. It took effect June 8.
Here’s what changed.
Agricultural equipment tariffs dropped from 25% to 15%. That helps farmers. It also helps companies like Deere and AGCO.
Forklifts, cranes, and bulldozers got a new temporary rate through December 2027. Products with less than 15% metal content by weight? Off the tariff list entirely.
But here’s the change that matters most.
The “American metal” threshold dropped from 95% to 85%.
Let me explain.
Under the old rule, a product had to contain 95% American-sourced metal to qualify for the lower tariff rate. That was almost impossible. Supply chains are messy. One imported bolt could blow the whole qualification.
At 85%? Way more manufacturers qualify. And the savings are massive.
Products made with American metal pay just 10%. Foreign metal? 50%. That’s a 40-point spread.
Think about that. If you run a factory, the math is dead simple. Buy American metal. Save a fortune on tariffs.
And that’s exactly what’s happening.
Nucor shipped a record 7 million tons of steel in Q1 2026. Revenue hit $9.5 billion. That’s up 21% from a year ago. Earnings per share nearly quintupled to $3.23.
On the aluminum side, Century Aluminum posted adjusted EBITDA of $231 million in Q1. Their guidance for Q2 is even higher. They expect $315 to $335 million.
The Midwest aluminum premium surged approximately 24% last quarter. That’s the extra price buyers pay for metal delivered in America.
Domestic metal is hot. Section 232 is the fuel.
The U.S. manufacturing investment tracker now shows $1.77 trillion in announced projects since 2025. Metal producers are riding the front of that wave.
Under the new June 8 rules, products made with at least 85% American-sourced metal qualify for a 10% tariff. The old bar was 95%.
This one shift makes it realistic for hundreds of manufacturers to switch to domestic metal — and save up to 40 percentage points on import duties.
Century Aluminum is the purest play on this trend.
The company runs smelters in South Carolina, Kentucky, and Iceland. It sold its idled Hawesville, Kentucky plant in Q1 for a big gain. Market cap sits around $4.6 billion.
Q1 was strong. Net sales came in at $649 million. Adjusted EBITDA hit $231 million. That was up 36% from the prior quarter.
But Q2 is where it gets exciting. Management guided EBITDA to $315 to $335 million. That’s a 40% jump in one quarter. Higher aluminum prices and the Section 232 premium are doing the heavy lifting.
Now here’s the big swing.
Century and Emirates Global Aluminium are building a $4 billion smelter in Inola, Oklahoma. It is the first new primary aluminum smelter built in America since 1980.
When it’s done, it will produce 750,000 tonnes per year. That would more than double total U.S. primary aluminum output.
One thousand permanent jobs. Four thousand during construction. EGA owns 60%. Century holds 40%.
The stock hit a 52-week high near $70 in early June. It has since pulled back to around $46. For a company building America’s aluminum future behind a 50% tariff wall... that looks like a dip worth watching.