The global aluminium market is in transition, and nowhere is that more evident than in the United States. What was once a predictable cycle of imports, recovery, and exports has, in 2025, become a story of trade shifts, policy shocks, and surging international appetite for recycled metal.
In the first half of the year, tariffs and slowing domestic demand collided with a boom in global recycling, leaving the US aluminium scrap trade looking very different from a year ago.
Imports rise despite tariff pressures
Between January and June 2025, the US imported about 430,000 tonnes of aluminium scrap — a jump of 31 per cent from 328,000 tonnes during the same period last year. But this growth didn’t come easy. It unfolded in a tense policy climate where new import tariffs were reshaping how recyclers sourced their raw material.
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