The Aluminum Association has announced the launch of its new campaign, ‘America Needs Aluminum,’ aimed at public awareness and advocacy and highlighting aluminium’s essential role in the US economy. It calls for policies that help America make, recycle and build more with this critical material.

The campaign centres on a straightforward message: ‘America needs aluminium — let’s make more of it here.’ It builds on the association’s broader ‘all-of-the-above’ strategy for aluminium supply, which calls for expanding both recycled and primary aluminium production, strengthening domestic manufacturing, improving energy availability and aggressively confronting unfair trade. 

“Aluminium is essential to nearly every part of modern American life — from our cars, homes and packaging to the power grid, fighter jets and advanced manufacturing,” said Charles Johnson, president and CEO of the Aluminum Association. “And we’re going to need a lot more of it to meet current and growing demand. We can either make more of it here or cede the field to strategic rivals like China. The question for policymakers is simple: Are we creating the conditions to make more aluminium, recycle more aluminium and build more with aluminium here in America?”

The America Needs Aluminum campaign makes the case that meeting future demand will require action across the entire aluminium value chain. The campaign calls for reliable and competitively priced energy to support primary production; policies that capture and recycle more aluminium scrap domestically; continued investment in US manufacturing; and targeted trade enforcement against unfairly traded aluminium from non-market actors. 

That message was also at the centre of a recently published Wall Street Journal letter to the editor from Johnson, ‘America Can’t Afford an Aluminum Shortfall.’ Responding to the ongoing debate over US aluminium trade policy, Johnson argued that combating unfair trade is necessary but cannot by itself secure America’s aluminium supply. 

“America’s aluminium strategy can’t be built around the interests of any one market segment or with a single policy solution,” Johnson argued in the piece.

According to the International Aluminium Institute, global aluminium demand is projected to grow roughly 80% by 2050. The United States currently produces less than 20% of the primary aluminium it uses each year and meeting that demand domestically would require building five to six new greenfield aluminium smelters. At the same time, recycled aluminium has become an increasingly important part of the domestic supply picture, accounting for around 85% of American aluminium production today. The US aluminium industry has invested more than $11 billion – largely in mid-and-downstream production and recycling – over the past decade. 

“America does not face a choice between primary and recycled aluminium — we need both,” Johnson added. “Smelters need customers. Manufacturers need metal. Recyclers need strong domestic markets. The goal should be to grow the entire American aluminium value chain and give companies the confidence to invest here for the long term.”

The new campaign will run through the fall and is focused heavily on policymakers and legislators in Washington, DC. It includes digital display and video, native advertising, digital out-of-home, audio and podcast advertising and targeted placements around key policy and industry events. The campaign is expected to generate four to five million impressions during its initial flight. 

Creative executions highlight aluminium’s role in defence, recycling, energy and American manufacturing with messages including ‘Defend More,’ ‘Keep More,’ ‘Invest More’ and ‘Make More.’

The effort follows the Aluminum Association’s award-winning ‘As American As’ campaign, which generated approximately 3.75 million impressions during two phases in 2025 and drove strong engagement with policymakers and other targeted audiences. 

“Aluminum is a critical material for America’s economic strength and national security,” Johnson said. “If we want to lead the world in manufacturing, defense, energy and advanced technology, we need the metal to do it. America needs aluminium — and we should be making and recycling more of it here at home.”

To learn more, visit: AmericaNeedsAluminum.com.