Century Aluminum, owner of the Mount Holly smelter in Goose Creek, has joined other U.S. aluminum producers and industry advocates in lobbying the federal government to put a stop to what it terms as unfair competition from cheap Chinese imports.

“We need immediate help,” Michael Bless, Century’s CEO, said during a China Trade Task Force forum in Washington, D.C., this week.

Whatever help might eventually come could be too little, too late.

Of the eight aluminum smelters operating in the U.S. today, half — including the Mount Holly site — have announced plans to close by year’s end, taking about 3,000 jobs with them. Three of the remaining four smelters have curtailed production by as much as two-thirds…