The Aluminum Association has voiced strong support for a new presidential memorandum aimed at securing domestic critical material supply chains, a move the trade body hopes will pave the way for strict export controls on used beverage containers (UBCs).

Issued on 31 July, the memorandum directs the US Secretary of Commerce to leverage Section 101 of the Defence Production Act to protect and expand domestic supplies of recoverable critical minerals and materials. Aluminium remains one of the few core industrial metals featured on every major US government critical minerals list.

The association is leveraging the directive to double down on its campaign for targeted scrap export restrictions. Industry leaders have grown increasingly vocal over the volume of high-grade aluminium scrap leaving US shores, much of it diverted to foreign competitors, including China, directly or via third-party transit hubs.

The group is specifically urging the Commerce Department to explicitly include aluminium scrap, particularly post-consumer UBCs, in upcoming regulatory implementation language.

A “strategic asset” strategy

Charles Johnson, president and CEO of the Aluminum Association, underlined that secondary aluminium and circular recovery must be treated as essential national security inputs alongside primary metal smelting.

“President Trump’s call to action recognizes an increasingly important reality: materials already circulating in our economy are strategic national assets,” said Johnson. “Just as America must produce more critical materials, we must also ensure valuable recoverable materials are available to support US manufacturers, the defense industrial base, and American workers.”

Johnson stressed that building a resilient domestic trade landscape requires an “all-of-the-above” approach, pairing investments in new primary production with aggressive protection of secondary recycling feeds.

“Building a stronger domestic aluminium industry means investing in new primary production, expanding recycling capacity, and ensuring strategically important aluminium scrap remains available to support American manufacturers,” Johnson noted.

Protecting the UBC stream

With millions of tons of scrap currently exported annually, US manufacturers face heightened competition for secondary feedstocks just as significant domestic processing capacity comes online. The loss of clean, high-value scrap, especially infinitely recyclable beverage cans, is seen by trade advocates as a direct blow to domestic circular economy investments.

“Aluminium scrap is not waste; it’s a critical manufacturing input,” Johnson added. “When clean, high-value aluminum scrap leaves the United States, we lose an opportunity to strengthen domestic supply chains, support American recycling investments, and manufacture more aluminium products here at home.”

To stem the flow, the association is pushing for immediate trade policy interventions, including a blanket export ban on used beverage containers to ensure the US packaging and manufacturing base retains access to essential low-carbon metal.