{"id":12899,"date":"2026-04-22T03:08:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T07:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.packagingindustrynews.com\/?p=12899"},"modified":"2026-04-22T03:08:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T07:08:00","slug":"plastic-prices-are-over-a-barrel-its-time-brands-rethink-their-packaging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.packagingindustrynews.com\/?p=12899","title":{"rendered":"Plastic Prices Are Over a Barrel: It\u2019s Time Brands Rethink Their Packaging"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>In the run-up to President Donald Trump taking office for his second term, it sure did seem like a good time to be in the business of plastics.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With his arrival, his \u201cLiberation Day\u201d special saw his administration enact reciprocal tariffs aimed at boosting US manufacturing jobs. Steel and aluminum imports, in particular, were especially painful, with duties rising to 50%. Granted, most of the tariffs were struck down by the Supreme Court last February, but the steel and aluminum tariffs have remained in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/fact-sheets\/2026\/04\/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-strengthens-tariffs-on-steel-aluminum-and-copper-imports\/#:~:text=Wire%20Scroll%20Right-,Fact%20Sheet:%20President%20Donald%20J.%20Trump%20Strengthens%20Tariffs%20on%20Steel,underway%20across%20the%20United%20States.\">place<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey, seeing the writing on the wall, <a href=\"https:\/\/thedieline.com\/coca-cola-hints-that-more-plastic-is-coming-thanks-to-trump-tariffs\/\">admitted<\/a> that the beverage maker would need to sell more beverages in plastic containers. Further, it gave the brand cover to push their sustainability goals to 2035 while also admitting they would rely less on recycled materials for their packaging. Many other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/us\/cans-cartons-how-trumps-metals-duties-affect-packages-shelves-2025-06-24\/#:~:text=Coca%2DCola%20CEO%20James%20Quincey,to%20$40%20million%20next%20year.\">brands<\/a> followed suit, citing supply chain issues. Those added manufacturing costs were then <a href=\"https:\/\/www.packagingdigest.com\/food-beverage\/trump-steel-tariffs-drive-price-hikes-for-food-beverage-packaging\">passed on to consumers<\/a> across the US, who were already tightening their belts because of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/01\/13\/how-wages-compare-with-inflation-since-2020.html#:~:text=How%20wages%20compare%20with%20inflation%20since%202020:%20'It%20feels%20likes,because%20it%20is%2C'%20analyst%20says&amp;text=Federal%20Reserve%20chair%20Jerome%20Powell,%2C%202025%20in%20Washington%2C%20DC.&amp;text=Wages%20have%20largely%20kept%20up,to%20gasoline%20and%20medical%20care.\">ongoing inflation<\/a> since the COVID pandemic.<\/p>\n<p><button id=\"expand-paywall-button\" class=\"expand-paywall-button\">Subscribe to Read More<\/button><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/thedieline.com\/plastic-prices-are-over-a-barrel-its-time-brands-rethink-their-packaging\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the run-up to President Donald Trump taking office for his second term, it sure did seem like a good time to be in the business of plastics.\u00a0 With his arrival, his \u201cLiberation Day\u201d special saw his administration enact reciprocal tariffs aimed at boosting US manufacturing jobs. Steel and aluminum imports, in particular, were especially [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":12900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[243,5490,5491,80,643,5492,4326,5493,1974,79,233,5494,909,3024,5495,5496,5497,5498,1052,285,5499,171,5500,5501,5502,2182,520,334,5503,5504,5505,5506,5507,186,1719,3452,5508,5509],"class_list":["post-12899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-packaging-news","tag-aluminum-packaging","tag-brandi-parker","tag-carbon-footprint","tag-circular-economy","tag-coca-cola","tag-commodity-prices","tag-environmental-policy","tag-epr-laws","tag-extended-producer-responsibility","tag-fiber-based-packaging","tag-glass-packaging","tag-global-economy","tag-inflation","tag-interact-brands","tag-iran-war-2026","tag-james-quincey","tag-middle-east-conflict","tag-molded-pulp","tag-packaging-design","tag-paperboard","tag-parker-brands","tag-pcr","tag-petrochemical-crisis","tag-petrochemicals","tag-plastic-prices","tag-plastic-tax","tag-polyethylene","tag-polypropylene","tag-post-consumer-recycled","tag-resin-prices","tag-strait-of-hormuz","tag-supply-chain-disruption","tag-sustainability-goals-2035","tag-sustainable-packaging","tag-tariffs","tag-the-dieline","tag-valerie-hawks","tag-virgin-plastic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.packagingindustrynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.packagingindustrynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.packagingindustrynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.packagingindustrynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.packagingindustrynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.packagingindustrynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.packagingindustrynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.packagingindustrynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.packagingindustrynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.packagingindustrynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}