Trump trade report lists plastics tariff, environmental barriers

A new report from President Donald Trump's administration on barriers faced by U.S. exports highlights European and Brazilian plastics tariffs as well as environmental regulations on plastics recycling and packaging in Europe, Canada, China and elsewhere.

The March 31 report from the U.S. Trade Representative comes as Trump announced a new round of tariffs on April 2, and it suggests plastics-related areas that could get more attention in the administration's trade agenda. 

Read more about the latest tariff announcement here. 

The plastics provisions are a small part of the mammoth report, showing up on 10 pages of the 397-page document, the "2025 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers."

Nonetheless, the report hit on some prominent new plastics environmental rules like the European Union's Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulations (PPWR) and its requirements for minimum recycled content in plastic, published in January.

It said the U.S. government was monitoring the details of implementing rules due by Jan. 1 that will require non-EU recycled plastic to follow the same sustainability criteria as in the EU.

"The United States will continue to engage the EU as the legislation is implemented to ensure implementing acts are developed in a manner that does not create unjustified barriers to U.S. exports," the USTR said.

The USTR also called out EU regulations from 2022 that it said require recyclers of food-contact plastic to verify that their food safety controls meet EU requirements, but that reject U.S. reviews like no objection letters for food grade recycled plastic.

"The EU has rejected existing risk management systems implemented by component authorities in exporting countries, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's 'No Objection Letter,' as potentially trade-facilitative alternatives," USTR said. "The United States will continue to engage the EU bilaterally to resolve concerns regarding the EU's certification requirements."

The report lists the European Union's 6.5 percent tariffs on plastics as an example of high EU duties, as well as calling out Brazil's "relatively high" tariffs on plastics and chemicals.

It said U.S. exporters often face significant uncertainty over how Brazil implements its tariffs, with the bound rates sometimes being much higher than the applied rates.

Beyond the tariffs on resin, USTR also highlighted environmental regulations in other countries.

In Canada, for example, it said the administration was monitoring that nation's 2018 "zero plastic waste agenda," including development of programs for extended producer responsibility, minimum recycled content, labeling and restrictions on single-use plastics.

"The United States supports Canada's objective of reducing plastic pollution," the USTR said. "[H]owever, U.S. industry has raised concerns that some aspects of Canada's program would create negative impacts for trade and the environment."

It said that "without viable alternatives" to plastic packaging, Canada's rules could compromise food safety and limit U.S. agricultural exports.

In China, the USTR also said it was concerned that rules in place since 2017 limiting imports of scrap plastic, paper and metals and setting purity standards are contributing to higher recycling costs in the United States.

"Because China was previously such a large destination market, significant amounts of U.S. scrap materials are being redirected to landfills or incinerators," the report said.

USTR also said that Southeast Asian nations have developed similar restrictions "setting impossibly high purity standards for recyclable materials."

The administration report also singled out the Ivory Coast and Oman for limiting imports of plastic bags.

The report is Congressionally mandated and due by March 31 annually.