Trump: Import tariffs on steel and aluminium – but what about scrap?

US President Donald Trump is set to announce a 25% import tariff on all steel and aluminium imports into the United States.

‘All steel entering the United States will be subject to a 25% tariff,’ Trump told journalists on board Airforce One. He added that aluminium imports would also be affected.

It is yet unclear if the measure includes steel or aluminium scrap. Following an earlier threat by Trump to impose tariffs on all goods from Canada and Mexico, which he postponed after strong opposition, Robin Wiener, president of the US Recycled Materials Association (ReMA), warned on social media that a trade tariff would have major impact on the scrap recycling sector.

Major scrap movements

She said: ‘With more than US$ 11 billion [EUR 10.7 billion] of recycled materials moving across borders between the US and Canada and Mexico, the tariffs are going to impose significant harm on the recycled materials industry and manufacturing supply chain in the US that relies upon our materials to produce the everyday products and infrastructure that Americans rely upon each and every day.’