Chaos of Trump tariff war throws US recycling industries into uncertainty

USA Today

10-04-2025

Chaos of Trump tariff war throws US recycling industries into uncertainty The recycled materials industry, a net exporter, is watching Trump's escalating tariff moves with concern.
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China vows to 'fight to the end' on President Trump's tariffs
President Donald Trump threatened China with more tariffs after they put a 34% tariff on U.S. imports.
An escalating global trade war sparked by President Donald Trump's impositions of tariffs has the recycled materials industry on edge.
It's possible tariffs could increase demand for domestic recycled steel.
You may not give a lot of thought to what happens to your plastic bottles or cardboard boxes after setting them in the recycling bin – or think they have anything to do with global trade wars.
But already on-edge U.S. recycled materials industries say they're facing an uncertain path forward in the face of escalating tariffs and funding freezes by President Donald Trump.
The industries have navigated years of market swings, the loss of a key importer and difficulties competing with the costs of new plastics and glass. The Recycled Materials Association, a Washington-based organization representing the industry's interests, told the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, that new tariffs will disrupt manufacturing and recycling processes in the U.S. that depend on recycled materials input.
Trump earlier this month invoked emergency economic powers and ordered the imposition of 10% tariffs on all countries, and an individualized, reciprocal, higher tariff on countries with which the United States has the largest trade deficits. The tariffs were set to kick in on Wednesday, but hours later, Trump reversed course and put a pause on the tariffs, but raised them even higher against China.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration crackdown on federal spending has impacted a potential jobs-creating recycling project in Erie, Pennsylvania.
The U.S. recycled materials industry is a net exporter and supports nearly 600,000 jobs nationwide, helping reduce the U.S. trade deficit, according to the Recycled Materials Association. An overall trade deficit occurs when the monetary value of a country's imports exceeds that of its exports. But how do these exports play out for America's recycling industry?
Each year billions of dollars of recycled materials cross the U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico, according to the Recycled Materials Association. In 2023, China was the third-largest export market for U.S. recycled materials totaling $2.46 billion. The market could be rocked by the trade struggles playing out around the world.
The White House did not immediately respond to an April 10 request for comment on the industry's concerns.
Recycling industry is already unsteady
Recycling goes beyond household items such as cardboard, paper, cans, glass and plastic put in curbside containers for pickup.
Some of the most lucrative trade comes in recycled scrap metals from industry.
While the recycled aluminum, steel and metals trade has fared best, other recyclables have seen major volatility, particularly after China in 2017 banned the import of nonindustrial plastic from the U.S. after years of being a major market for the materials.
Supply and demand jolts amid the COVID-19 pandemic also shook markets for the American recycling industry.
But it's not all about previous hurdles the industry has faced: Experts also told the USA TODAY Network the sector is held back by market forces that allow industries to make new glass and plastics at competitive prices.
"There is almost always a good market for metals, because the cost to make new metals is incredibly high," said Shelie Miller, a professor and co-director of the Center for Sustainable Systems at the University of Michigan.
"Meanwhile, things like plastics and glass are really operating on a much closer margin. So any increase in recovered material cost is going to make it that much more difficult to compete against the virgin product."
TARIFF WAR UPDATES: China, EU slap back at US with steep tariffs as Trump is undeterred
New recycling plant project axed after federal loan freeze
Plans to build one of the world's largest plastics recycling facilities in Erie, Pennsylvania, were scrapped as the Trump administration executed another of its financial priorities: freezes on federal grants and loans.
In a January directive, Trump paused the release of federal funds under the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Improvement and Jobs Act, including Department of Energy loans and grants.
The Pennsylvania recycling plant was to receive over half of its $300 million price tag through a Department of Energy conditional loan guarantee announced last August. Mitch Hecht, the CEO and Founder of International Recycling Group, wasn't worried about the loan with the presidential election looming, but he made the call to cancel the project amid uncertainty over funding with the pause on the loan.
The International Recycling Group also cited tariffs on materials and equipment, which increased the costs to develop the plant, and difficulties securing funding in its decision to pull the plug.
Hecht said he was "personally devastated" by the decision to cancel the plant, which was expected to create hundreds of jobs. The community is also feeling the loss.
'The Erie Regional Chamber is frustrated by the financial pressure building due to economic uncertainty at the federal level, which IRG cited as the reason to cancel plans for its Erie plastics recycling plant project," Brandon Mendoza, CEO of the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership, said in a statement.
Recycling industry relies on exporting materials
In Michigan, Michael Csapo, general manager of Resource Recovery and Recycling Authority of Southwest Oakland County, said the agency's sorted products haven't been shipped directly to overseas markets "for some years." But he explained that's not typical for much of his industry.
"The overall recycling market is part of the globally connected supply chain, and its health is tied to the overall health of the domestic and global economies," he said. "As such, we are concerned about the current level of economic uncertainty."
About two-thirds of recycled materials imported into the U.S. come from Canada and Mexico. Those materials to date have been covered under tariff exemptions given by the Trump administration to goods falling under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement negotiated during Trump's first term.
"Our biggest concern is probably going to come in the form of retaliation against U.S. exports of our products," said Adam Shaffer, vice president of international trade and global affairs for the Recycled Materials Association.
The cloudy outlook is not without shafts of light. Miller said it's possible that if trade wars make raw materials more expensive, domestic markets of recycled materials could become more competitive to save on costs.
And Trump's emphasis on returning more manufacturing to the U.S. could mean more demand for recycled steel, Shaffer said.
"A lot of the domestic manufacturing goals that the administration has set, our materials are important in helping build that capacity up," he said. "Seventy percent of steel comes from recycled content. We are ready, willing and able to participate in that."