PGMs and derivatives should be exempt from the EU's retaliatory tariffs targeting U.S. imports
Key Asks
IPA strongly recommends that European Union (EU) legislators exempt PGMs and all related derivatives from any trade countermeasures targeting United States (U.S.) imports. Imposing tariffs on PGMs risks creating significant economic barriers for EU industry, potentially obstructing the adoption of clean technologies and undermining efforts toward industrial decarbonisation.
It is worth noting that the U.S. Executive Order on “Reciprocal Tariffs” (2 April 2025) explicitly excludes PGMs from the list of targeted products list (Annex II).
Executive Summary: IPA position on EU ‘retaliatory’ tariffs on PGMs
IPA and its member companies are deeply concerned about the potential introduction of EU import tariffs on platinum group metals originating from the United States.
The IPA strongly supports free and fair global trade and recognises the European Commission's efforts to address recent U.S. tariff measures within the framework of Regulation (EU) No 654/2014 and Regulation 2025/778.
However, we firmly urge the EU Commission not to impose tariffs on platinum group metals and associated materials and products – such as mined material, spent catalysts, semi-finished metals, and e-waste – given their critical role in clean technologies and industrial decarbonization.
PGMs are essential to the EU’s decarbonisation and reindustrialisation objectives, particularly in the hydrogen economy, automotive emissions control, and advanced manufacturing.
Introducing tariffs on PGMs and secondary material imports from the U.S. would disrupt Europe’s recycling-based supply chains, undermine strategic autonomy under the Critical Raw Materials Act, and weaken the EU’s competitiveness in clean tech industries.
The IPA underscores that Europe lacks significant domestic PGM mining and remains heavily reliant on transatlantic flows of recycled material and catalysts. Maintaining tariff-free trade with U.S. partners is therefore essential. Any disruption to these established supply routes risks compromising feedstock security for EU refiners and may redirect valuable recycling streams to more favourable jurisdictions - ultimately eroding Europe’s leadership in circular economy innovation.
Policy Recommendations
It is crucial to understand that the current EU regulation proposals to introduce trade countermeasures against the United States and their provisions on PGMs risk creating more problems than they would solve.
Given the essential role of PGMs across countless strategic green and key industrial applications, tariffs risk jeopardizing the environmental and economic objectives of the EU when it comes to clean energy production and cutting emissions.
As stated in the EU Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), platinum group metals are essential to several core EU policy objectives and underpin key legislative initiatives in the fields of climate and environmental protection, clean energy, and strategic industrial resilience. By interfering in the PGMs market, the EU is risking missing its own economic security, industrial and environmental policy objectives.
- Exclude PGMs and related materials from any list of retaliatory tariff measures under EU Regulations 2025/778 and 654/2014.
- Safeguard the free movement of critical PGM feedstocks such as mining material, e-waste, spent catalysts, and semi-finished PGM products.
- Acknowledge the strategic role of PGMs in achieving the objectives of the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), Green Deal, and Net-Zero Industry Act.
- Pursue cooperative transatlantic trade approaches that protect vital industrial supply chains and advance common sustainability objectives.
Read the full statement here: Impulse Paper on the detrimental effects of retaliatory tariffs