While Wall Street focuses on the S&P 500’s worst quarter in three years due to trade-war threats, the nuclear enterprise could also face market slowdown as uranium stocks fall even further, according to published reports.
President Donald Trump has imposed a 10% tariff on energy resources from Canada since early March, and he will give his detailed plan on any additional tariffs at the White House Rose Garden Wednesday at 4 p.m. Eastern time in what he has dubbed as “liberation day.”
Since the U.S. nuclear power industry relies on Canada for more than one-fourth of its uranium, uncertainty over “liberation day” and over tariffs thus far has discouraged buyers, according to Bloomberg. Uranium futures have dropped 40% from their 2024 peak, and uranium producer Cameco Corp. is down 19% so far this year.
That said, Cameco chief financial officer Grant Isaac told a conference in February that there’s not much danger of running out of fuel for nuclear reactors in the near term given the long-term nature of uranium-supply contracts. Isaac said reactors are well-supplied through this year and most of 2026, Bloomberg said.
The Department of Energy and its semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration has been part of federal efforts since the Joe Biden administration to wean the U.S. off of imported uranium from other countries, especially since a ban on Russian-imported uranium will go into effect in 2028. DOE in December added six companies to a contract to supply low-enriched uranium for commercial nuclear power generation with a total value of $3.4 billion over 10 years.
