A little cloudy. Low 53F. WNW winds at 10 to 15 mph.

But when the U.S. government imposed anti-dumping duties on Chinese-made aluminum last year, investors in JW Aluminum felt it was time to begin an ambitious $300 million expansion at the goose Creek Metalist plant.

The expansion, to be done in two phases over three years, will double capacity at the plant on Old mount Holly road, relying solely on recycled aluminium for its raw materials. New, state-of-the-art equipment was delivered to the site last week and the combined 326,000 square feet of new construction will produce continuous tape flat rolled aluminum for the housing industry.

“We’ve outgrown this place,” McCarter said of the administrative space in Goose Creek. “We had doubling people in the offices.”

Edwards Moving

However, none of the work would have been possible if not for import duties.

A study by the Organization for economic cooperation and development found that China provided more than $ 70 billion in subsidies to its aluminum industry between 2013 and 2017. The excess capacity has lowered aluminum prices and forced U.S. manufacturers to cut production.

“The real challenge on the world stage with aluminum and fair competition is China,” the CEO of Constellium N. V., which has several U.S. facilities, said at a recent conference. “So we say targeted action against those players in China who do not play by global rules is the solution to our problems.”

McCarter sees more opportunities ahead, especially with the national housing market in which 16 million homes are expected to be built in the next decade and roughly 50 percent of existing homes at least 20 years old requiring updated equipment like gutters, window frames and air conditioning manufacturers make from JW Aluminum products.