US President Donald Trump’s move to double tariffs on aluminum imports heightens the risk of a full-blown scrap war with the European Union. Although they are supposed to be blanket tariffs with no exceptions or exemptions, there is one significant gap in the tariff wall.
Aluminum scrap is explicitly excluded on the grounds it constitutes a key raw material for US manufacturers. The Trump administration’s decision to lift aluminum tariffs to 25% effective the start of March has already caused US imports of recyclable material to rise.
This week’s doubling of the tariff rate to 50% could turn the import flow into a flood. The European Union, which is mulling export duties on aluminum recyclables to stop what it terms “scrap leakage”, is coming under pressure to move sooner rather than later.
For the rest of this article: https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/us-aluminium-tariffs-threaten-scrap-clash-with-european-union-2025-06-09/