President Donald Trump said late Wednesday that he plans to implement 50% tariffs on copper imports beginning Aug. 1. Photo by Al Drago/UPI | License Photo
President Donald Trump said he will put a 50% tariff on copper imports effective Aug. 1.
“I am announcing a 50% tariff on copper, effective Aug. 1, 2025, after receiving a robust national security assessment,” Trump posted to his Truth Social account Wednesday evening. He then listed some of the military uses for the metal before using the opportunity to attack the Biden administration for how it managed copper.
Copper prices rose 2.62% after Trump’s comments, then extended its gains before leaping 13.12% upwards and hitting its best one-day gain since 1989.
The third-most-consumed metal on Earth, the United States imports about half of the copper it uses, drawing most of its supply from Chile, as per data from the U.S. Geological Survey.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC’s “Power Lunch” Tuesday that the Trump administration wants to bring “copper production home,” and that copper tariffs will be similar to the 50% levied on aluminum and steel.
Ryan Young, a senior economist at the nonpartisan think tank Competitive Enterprise Institute told CBS News that copper is a key component in electrical wiring and plumbing, as well as in radiators and household appliances, and admits to concerns that a big copper levy could trigger inflation.
“It’s bad news all around,” Young said of Trump’s copper tariff pitch. “If companies’ costs go up, they pass them along to consumers, so we’d see higher prices for home repairs and anything that uses copper.”
The British multinational research firm BMI forecasts worldwide copper mine production to increase at an annual output from over 26 million tons in 2025 to over 34 million tons by 2034.
