US president Donald Trump's threat to impose 100pc tariffs on imports from Canada may disrupt aluminum and ferrous scrap flows to US consumers who rely on their northern neighbor to supplement domestic feedstock sources.
Trump threatened the tariff against all imports from Canada on 24 January if Ottawa concludes a trade deal with Beijing. It is unclear if ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metal compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA) would remain exempt from the new tariffs, if they were imposed.
The White House did not respond to a request for additional details and has not released an executive order backing Trump's Canada tariff threat, nor has it explained which Canada-China trade deal he was referencing.
USMCA-compliant imports were exempt from the 35pc tariff the US government imposed on some Canadian imports on 1 August. Uncertainty will remain a concern for US steel and aluminum makers and Canadian scrap shippers until the new tariff rate officially goes into effect through an executive order.
Canada is a major shipper of ferrous and aluminum scrap to the US. The country shipped 396,000t of aluminum scrap to the US from January through October 2025, accounting for nearly 55pc of imports, US Commerce Department data show. The second-largest supplier to the US, Mexico, shipped 223,000t in the same period.
Canada also supplied 63pc of the 2.2mn t of ferrous scrap the US imported from January through October. The country was the second-largest shipper of prime scrap to the US after Mexico, with 444,000t during the same period.
