On April 2, 2025 the US announced radical changes to tariffs on all imports into the United States. US polyethylene imports from and exports to Canada and Mexico are under the US-Mexico-Canada Free Trade Agreement and are not impacted by the new tariffs. US exports of polyethylene, however, have risen rapidly since 2021 on higher shipments to Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Western Europe, and other regions. Responses, if any, by trading partners against imports of polyethylene or other products from the US are evolving. On April 3, China said it would apply a 34% tariff on all imports from the US.

US trade statistics showed exports of 14.7 million tons of ethylene polymers in 2024, up from 9.2 million tons in 2021. Of the 2024 total, exports of linear as ethylene-alpha-olefin copolymers (EAOC) accounted for 39%; HDPE, another 33%; together accounting for 72% of total. (The remainder was high pressure LDPE, other LLDPE, EVA, and other copolymers.)

The distribution by region of reported US exports of EAOC and HDPE in 2024 highlighted the importance of the Asia-Pacific, Latin American, and Western European (i.e., all EU excluding those countries in Eastern Europe) markets. Brazil and China were key destinations: Brazil, 693,000 tons of EAOC and 485,000 tons of HDPE; China, 858,000 tons of EAOC and 908,000 tons of HDPE.

Current tariffs into the key countries/region listed below, excluding any new retaliatory measures, range from 0% to 14%.

From International Trader Publications US Polymer Trade Report, and, World Trade Analyses for all grades of polyethylene.