Recycling Industry Statement on China’s Announcement of Tariffs on All Scrap Imports

Washington, DC, Aug. 08, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), the Voice of the Recycling IndustryTM, today released the following statement in response to China’s announcement that it will impose a retaliatory tariff on the import of all scrap commodities from the U.S.:

U.S. Plastic Scrap Exports to China U.S. Recovered Paper and Fiber Exports to China

“ISRI is already hearing from contacts in China that the announcement has caused consternation among Chinese consumers of U.S. scrap commodities. Although these tariffs will not be levied on imports from other countries, it is our understanding that other regions may not be able to fulfill all of China's demand. This is in line with other reports that the trade war has had an impact on the Chinese economy across many sectors.

“ISRI regrets that the trade dispute between the United States and China continues to escalate without any indication that the two governments will be negotiating an agreement on trade. There is no doubt that these tariffs will impair the already diminishing scrap exports from the United States to China.”

The tariffs will go into effect on August 23.

In 2017, the U.S. exported a total of $5.6 billion worth of scrap commodities to China. Through the first six months of 2018, the total of U.S. scrap exports to China was $2.2 billion, a decrease of 24 percent from the same time frame last year.

The tariff codes impacted are as follows:

• 3915 Plastics
• 4707 Paper
• 7204 Ferrous
• 7404 Copper
• 7503 Nickel
• 7602 Aluminum
• 7802 Lead
• 7902 Zinc
• 8002 Tin
• 8104 Other base metals

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Attachments

• PlasticExportsChina
• PaperExportsChina

Mark Carpenter
                    Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries
                    (202) 662-8525
                    mcarpenter@isri.org