Other interested parties of the industry are similar on the eve of what Trump has called “Liberation Day” on Wednesday. The Aluminum Association, for example, supports some but not all the duties of the president in the key metal.
“The increase in recycling in a few percentage points can drastically reduce our dependence on primary aluminum from foreign sources,” said Charles Johnson, CEO of the commercial group, but noted that exports are also crucial for the industry.
According to the Association of Recycled Materials, or Rowing, approximately 20% of recycled steel and 37% of recycled aluminum are sold abroad, or resa. This totaled around $ 26.7 billion in exports in 2023, the organization estimates, sales that retaliation tariffs of foreign governments could drown.
In 2018, Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs excluded Scrap Metal, but Rema said he has not been able to determine if that will be true this time, even under his general tasks in Mexico and Canada.
Industry groups have expressed special dismay that Trump chose a fight with Canada, an important American steel and aluminum supplier. The country represented more than 50% of aluminum imports and more than 20% of the imports of steel and iron from 2023, according to the United States Geological Service.
Given these interdependencies, Rema says that it is crucial that recycled materials worth $ 11 billion continue to operate freely within North America.
Our materials move to where there is more demand for them.
Adam Shaffer, Association of Recycled Materials
“Our materials move to where there is more demand for them,” said Adam Shaffer, vice president of International Trade and Global Affairs in Rema.
While the aluminum association has long supported by braking Chinese imports of low cost of “unjustly commercialized aluminum”, it opposes tariffs on Canadian aluminum. Johnson said it was optimistic that Trump would consider certain exemptions, as he did in 2018. That would help the national industry to continue “ensuring a reliable supply of primary metals for US producers,” said Johnson.
United Steelworkers has asked the administration to avoid unnecessarily antagonizing one of the largest commercial partners in the industry.
“While our union absolutely considers tariffs as one of the many important tools that we need to use to rebalance our commercial relations, we urge a measured approach that strengthens our manufacturing sector and explain our relationships with our allies, such as Canada, who play with the rules,” said the labor union in a statement on February 10.
Michael E. Hoffman, CEO of the National Association of Waste and Recycling, which mainly represents recycling of consumer goods, also said that it is common for recycled materials to move relatively freely between Mexico, Canada and the United States.
“It’s an American model,” he said.
A White House spokesman did not respond to a request for comments.
Even if tariffs are successful in making steel and domestic aluminum, both freshly made and recycled supplies, more competitive with foreign counterparts, global reprisals threaten to destabilize basic products markets for these products. Shaffer said the highest prices at home are good for American companies if there is enough demand to support them.
“It would be harmful to the two recycler [and] Also for the environment if there is no market for these materials nationwide, ”he said.
Some Trump administration officials have said that their radical commercial policy changes could cause some short -term pain on the way to the revitalization of the US industry. But even within the sectors, the White House is looking to reinforce, there is skepticism that the bet will be worth it.
“Some things make sense to become abroad versus here,” said Lincoln, the owner of the Pensylvania recycling plant. “I don’t see that infrastructure arrives immediately.”
