More than one week after US President Donald Trump announced 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports, the aluminium markets in Mexico, Argentina and Brazil are still worried about the consequences and ongoing uncertainty around the potential implications for global trade flows, sources told Fastmarkets.

The US has the opportunity to be self-reliant on manganese for use in batteries once South32’s Hermosa project is up and running, the president of Hermosa told Fastmarkets.

European silicon giant downplays trade disruption fears amid market volatility, revealing improved Q4 earnings despite falling revenues and alumnium sector weakness.

Read Fastmarkets' monthly battery raw materials market update for February 2025, focusing on raw materials including lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite and more

China has introduced new export controls on five critical metals and related technologies, effective from February 4.

Critical minerals sector braces for policy upheaval under Trump while experts predict market fundamentals and Republican state interests will preserve industry momentum

Aluminium demand in India is set to continue its sharp growth over the next three years, fueled by an expanding automotive sector in the South Asian country, Fastmarkets heard at the Material Recycling Association of India (MRAI) international conference held in Jaipur on January 28-30.

The weaponization of critical minerals supplies due to trade tensions could lead to the kind of emergency that would provide the push that the US needs to develop its metals and mining sector, the chief executive officer of Alaska Energy Metals has said.

President Donald Trump’s long-promised series of day-one executive orders imply a seismic shift in the approach of the United States to the environment, critical minerals and energy.

The biggest threat to keeping carbon emissions low in the steel industry is imports flowing in from regions where there is a lack of focus on emissions reduction, Kevin Dempsey, president and chief executive officer of the American Iron and Steel Institute, said at Fastmarkets’ second annual Circular Steel Summit on Wednesday January 15 in Houston, Texas.