The simple tin can is proving to be one of the toughest tests for President Trump\u2019s tariffs.<\/p>\n
Just over a year ago, Mr. Trump imposed high tariffs on steel to try to stifle imports of the metal and bolster domestic production.<\/p>\n
But imports of the kind of steel used to make cans surged in 2025, and American can makers say they will remain heavily dependent on foreign supplies \u2014 now made more expensive by the tariffs \u2014 for a long time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to import all this tin plate,\u201d said Scott Breen, the president of the Can Manufacturers Institute, referring to the thinly rolled steel that is coated with tin and used to make cans. \u201cThere\u2019s not any more being produced here than there was before.\u201d The institute is a trade group representing some of the largest can makers in the United States.<\/p>\n
Unlike some of Mr. Trump\u2019s other tariffs, which have been overturned<\/a> by courts, the steel levies have strong legal standing, according to scholars, which means they are unlikely to go away anytime soon.<\/p>\n They were imposed under a national security provision called Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act \u2014 and, at 50 percent, are higher than many of Mr. Trump\u2019s other import taxes.<\/p>\n A can makes up about a third of the wholesale price of canned fruits or vegetables. And as Mr. Trump\u2019s tariffs pushed up the cost of tin plate, canned food prices have risen, burdening households that rely on such staples as corn and beans.<\/p>\n In March, canned fruits and vegetables cost 5.7 percent more than they did a year earlier, compared with a 2 percent increase for all food consumed at home, according to government data.<\/p>\n Over 80 percent of the tin plate used in the United States last year was imported, according to Harbor Intelligence, a metals markets analysis firm. Tin plate is produced in much lower volumes than the steel used to make cars and buildings, making it a less attractive business for large steel companies.<\/p>\n Still, U.S. Steel, the biggest U.S. producer of tin plate, recently announced that it was planning to make more, by restarting production next year at a facility in Gary, Ind. \u2014 a potential sign that Mr. Trump\u2019s tariffs are spurring investment.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the Commerce Department, the agency behind the steel tariffs, said that tin plate mills closed under President Joseph R. Biden Jr., and that Mr. Trump\u2019s policies were improving the business environment for tin plate makers, pointing to U.S. Steel\u2019s plans for its Gary plant.<\/p>\n But even with the new supply from U.S. Steel, American can makers are likely to import over two-thirds of their tin plate in the coming years, steel executives and analysts said.<\/p>\n The current challenges affecting the tin plate market are not lost on Dave Luptak, the chief executive of Ohio Coatings. His company buys steel rolled as thin as a business card and coats it with tin at its factory in Yorkville, Ohio.<\/p>\n Workers at the facility, most of whom are in the United Steelworkers union, make the tin plate by running the thin steel, known as blackplate, through a line that coats it with tin via a chemical-electrical process. Last year, the factory produced 162,000 tons of tin plate for its can making customers.<\/p>\n Mr. Luptak said he supported Mr. Trump\u2019s tariffs because they protected the American steel industry from foreign factories, particularly in China, where production is heavily subsidized. But Ohio Coatings imports around three-fourths of its blackplate, on which it must pay tariffs.<\/p>\n Mr. Luptak said the imposition of the tariffs did not mean the company was paying 50 percent more for the foreign blackplate. That\u2019s because, he said, Ohio Coatings\u2019 suppliers had cut their price to offset some of the tariff. He also said the company had raised what it charged its customers by a \u201csingle-digit\u201d percentage last year. Still, Mr. Luptak said that Ohio Coatings had absorbed some of the cost of the tariff and that its profits had taken a hit.<\/p>\n \u201cOur margins are challenged,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Ohio Coatings has asked the Trump administration to consider temporarily waiving the tariffs on blackplate. This, Mr. Luptak explained, would give his company and other American steel makers time to set up new lines to make tin-plate steel and reduce the United States\u2019 reliance on imports.<\/p>\n A decade ago, American producers made over 60 percent of the tin plate, blackplate and another type of packaging steel used in the United States, according to Harbor Intelligence. But last year they produced less than 20 percent. In recent years, American steel companies shut down tin plate lines. They said they couldn\u2019t compete with imports, and other types of steel production had better margins. That left Ohio Coatings and U.S. Steel as the only producers of tin plate. U.S. Steel also makes blackplate, some of which it sells to Ohio Coatings.<\/p>\n U.S. Steel didn\u2019t say how much tin plate \u2014 the finished product \u2014 it might produce after restarting production at its Gary factory. \u201cIt will depend on a number of factors,\u201d said Amanda Malkowski, a spokeswoman for U.S. Steel.<\/p>\n