Metal tariffs raise packaging costs
Newer U.S. tariffs on imported steel, aluminum and copper are pushing up costs for can-makers and other packaging users, creating an upstream pressure that will likely flow into pantry staples over time. Analysts warn the effect is gradual but real — higher metal input costs raise prices for canned and packaged foods and could compound existing grocery inflation. (packaginginsights.com)
The cost of a can just went up again. On April 2, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation that tightened Section 232 tariffs on imported steel, aluminum, and copper. Goods made almost entirely of those metals now face a 50% tariff on their full value. Derivative products that are “substantially made” from those metals face 25%. Products with 15% or less metal content are exempt. The White House says the change is meant to strengthen domestic metal production. For companies that buy metal to make cans, lids, foil, and other packaging, it means a fresh cost shock landing upstream of the grocery aisle (whitehouse.gov). That matters because metal packaging is not a niche input. It sits inside the ordinary stuff people buy every week: soup, beans, tomatoes, tuna, pet food, beer, energy drinks. The new rules did not give can-makers the relief they wanted. Packaging Dive reported that filled food and beverage cans were not added to the derivatives list after lobbying from the Can Manufacturers Institute, so domestic can-makers still face high costs on imported metal while foreign canned goods can arrive without the same tariff burden on the container itself (packagingdive.com, finance.yahoo.com). The awkward part is that the U.S. can industry cannot simply switch to fully domestic supply. Can-makers say they now have to import nearly 80% of the tin mill steel used for food cans, largely from allied countries, because domestic production has shrunk and several tin mill lines have closed in recent years (finance.yahoo.com, packagingdive.com). That turns the tariff into a tax on an input the industry still needs and cannot easily replace. The same pattern now extends to copper, after a July 30, 2025 proclamation found copper imports threatened national security and set the stage for new duties on copper and copper-containing products (whitehouse.gov). Aluminum adds another layer. Even before this month’s tariff revision, U.S. aluminum costs were already running hot. Packaging Dive reported in March that the Midwest Premium for aluminum had passed $1 per pound for the first time, widening the gap between U.S. and international prices. Executives at major packaging companies said those costs were being passed through. Ball said it expected direct tariff costs in 2026 as it shifted some production into the U.S., while Crown said higher aluminum prices had already become a meaningful headwind (packagingdive.com, morningstar.com). None of this guarantees a sudden jump in the price of canned food next week. Grocery inflation is broader than packaging, and food prices depend on crops, labor, freight, and retail competition too. But tariffs on a basic industrial input do not disappear. They move. USDA says food-at-home prices in February 2026 were already 2.4% above a year earlier, and the pressure is showing up especially clearly in canned goods. A University of Cincinnati grocery tracker found some of the sharpest recent increases in canned tuna, canned soup, and canned spinach (ers.usda.gov, local12.com). The strange result is that a policy sold as support for American manufacturing can make American-made pantry staples less competitive. The White House says the tariffs will help restart metal production at home. That may be true for some mills and smelters. But until that capacity exists at scale, can-makers are paying more now for steel, aluminum, and copper they still have to buy now. The concrete object at the end of that chain is not an abstract tariff schedule. It is a soup can.
