US export controls on recycled copper would have unintended consequences that could weaken the country’s domestic recycling and manufacturing ecosystems, the president of the Recycled Materials Association (ReMA) said.

Global aluminium producer Alcoa has already diverted 100,000 tonnes of Canadian metal away from the US market in response to uncertainty about import tariffs with trade measures continuing to upend traditional trade flows and pushing the company to rethink its global supply strategy, its chief executive officer said.

The United States’ copper recycling industry is ramping up pressure on policymakers to impose some form of export controls on high-purity copper scrap, arguing that current trade dynamics – particularly with China – are distorting prices, weakening domestic capacity and undermining national security goals.

The global copper market has finally received the widely anticipated news that imports to the US will be tariffed from August 1. The finer details of the tariffs, including their scope, and whether key copper-exporting nations like Chile, Canada and Peru will be exempt, remain unclear.

The recent US executive order intended to fast-track seabed mining projects has thrown a spotlight on a sector that faces a storm of challenges, including from its stakeholders.

Tariffs are creating a short-term period of volatility, but are not shifting conviction on the long-term fundamentals of the copper market, the chief executive officer of Rio Tinto Copper has said

Producers of copper appear to be adopting the public mantra of “keep calm and carry on” while trade tensions escalate. But this belies an underlying mood of concern that not just they, but the wider industry, has assumed

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