Copper wires at a recycling facility in Salt Lake City, Utah, US, on Thursday, May 8, 2025.
Niki Chan Wylie | Bloomberg | Getty Images
U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the 50% tariff on copper imports, which he had announced the previous day, will take effect on Aug. 1.
The decision was made after he received a national security assessment, Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“I am announcing a 50% TARIFF on Copper, effective August 1, 2025, after receiving a robust NATIONAL SECURITY ASSESSMENT,” Trump wrote.
“Copper is necessary for Semiconductors, Aircraft, Ships, Ammunition, Data Centers, Lithium-ion Batteries, Radar Systems, Missile Defense Systems, and even, Hypersonic Weapons, of which we are building many. Copper is the second most used material by the Department of Defense.”
Copper prices rose 2.62%, following Trump’s latest announcement, extending its gains from the previous session when it jumped 13.12% and recorded its best one-day gain since 1989.
Meanwhile, the three-month benchmark copper futures on the London Metal Exchange was down 1.63% at $9630.50 a ton as of 9.20 a.m. Singapore time, a reflection of the unusually wide premium that’s developing between U.S. copper and the metal elsewhere.
U.S. copper prices spiked on Trump’s 50% tariff announcement
According to London-based agency Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, U.S. consumers could be paying around $15,000 per metric ton for copper, while the rest of the world pays around $10,000 by August.
The price gap will impact household spending, Daan de Jonge, Benchmark’s lead analyst for copper demand and prices, told CNBC.
“If you’re buying a new fridge, air conditioner, car, everything is going to get more expensive, and companies could reasonably be expected to pass that on,” he said. Depending on the final baseline tariff rates, U.S. consumers could opt to buy goods produced more cheaply abroad due to that impact.
“If we’re looking at public investment, U.S. debt has got more expensive, the dollar is declining, and now you’re getting a major raw material cost increase for infrastructure investments … I’d expect that to start showing employment effects.”
Adam Whiteley of BNY Investments said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that Trump’s latest announcement is indicative of the trade policy that he wants to protect.
“Copper is probably in a third category of tariffs, which is national security. So we’ve got negotiating tactics, we’ve got addressing trade imbalances, and then the copper, or indeed, any of the minerals, maybe semiconductors, maybe pharmaceuticals,” Whiteley said.
Copper is the third-most-consumed metal, behind iron and aluminum. The U.S. imports nearly half of the copper it uses, most of which comes from Chile, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey.
Earlier on Tuesday, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC’s “Power Lunch” that the Trump administration wants to bring “copper production home.” He noted that Trump’s move will bring copper tariffs in line with U.S. duties on imports of steel and aluminum, which Trump doubled to 50% in early June.
However, experts say that this will take a while before production ramps up, and possibly decades to fulfill demand.
Copper is the third-most-consumed metal, behind iron and aluminum. The U.S. imports nearly half of the copper it uses, most of which comes from Chile, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Trump in late February ordered a probe into potential new tariffs on copper imports on national security grounds.
— CNBC’s Jenni Reid and Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report.