President Trump will direct Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to oversee on Tuesday, and begin an investigation into whether foreign copper production and importing materials into the US poses a risk to America's economic and national security. I've been instructed to do so.
White House officials said new tariffs could be applied to copper, which is widely used in manufacturing and construction and is important for American military and emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, according to the findings of the survey. I've said that.
White House officials said they didn't want to book the results of the investigation during a call with reporters on Tuesday, and discussed details about when the investigation will end or the rates that could be set. It was lacking.
Peter Navarro, a senior counselor in trade and manufacturing, said Lutnick “in Trump's time, as quickly as possible, to get the results of the investigation into the president's desk for possible actions.”
Potential tariffs will help protect the domestic copper industry, the White House calls it. Copper is an essential component of ships, aircraft and tank buildings, among other things.
The Trump administration said Tuesday that military, electric vehicles and artificial intelligence require metals, and that geopolitical disruption could cut the US from supplies that require it, as an economic defense issue. I assembled it.
“Taxes can help build the American copper industry and strengthen national defense if necessary,” Rutnick said. “American industry relies on copper and should be made in the US. There are no exemptions or exceptions.”
“It's time for the copper to go home,” he added.
Like the steel and aluminum tariffs that President Trump has pledged to recover next month, copper tariffs will rely on metals and raise the costs of various other industries that could create pushbacks from them Masu. This includes manufacturers of automobiles, electronics and communications equipment, as well as construction companies that use copper for plumbing, roof construction and other uses.
Tariffs could also encourage a new battle with countries that ship metals to the United States. Chile is the largest source of copper in the United States, sending $4.63 billion in metals to the United States each year, and is further apart by Canada, Peru, Mexico and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
US copper production is decreasing over time. According to data from the US Geological Survey, the country mined an estimated 1.1 million tonnes of copper in 2024, down about 20% over a decade.
China is also a major global producer of copper, but due to previous tariffs, it sends relatively few to the US. But White House officials say China's copper production is still lowering global prices, and China is stealing copper resources around the world.
In a call with a reporter on Tuesday, China has “longer use of industrial overcapacity and dumping as an economic weapon to dominate global markets, and systematically cut competitors from other countries.” I stated.
“We can now use the same model to control the global copper market,” he said.
A memo from Citigroup analysts earlier this month showed that copper prices rose this year ahead of the expected tariffs and continued resilience in manufacturing activities. The US consumed about $17 billion in copper in 2024, importing about 45% of that amount, analysts said.
Asked how the president chose to take up the copper issue, Trump administration officials on the phone said Trump has the ability to predict what others might miss out on. . Officials mentioned a 1988 interview in which Trump spoke to Oprah Winfrey about trade with Japan, and the exchange predicted how the president thinks about retaliation against foreign governments that are “cheating” the United States. He said.
Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on various imports, including steel, aluminum, automobiles and medicines. He also came within hours of imposing tariffs on Canada and Mexico exports earlier this month, and said the countries have not done enough to stop the flow of drugs and immigration into the United States. He suspended those duties for a month, but this week they said it would come into effect on March 4th, as planned.
Trump also imposed an additional 10% tariff on all products from China, resulting in retaliatory tariffs from China on US exports. He then introduced plans to dramatically reform US tariff rates in other countries by changing the tariff levels that other countries charge to the US.
The copper investigation is conducted under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, which allows the president to impose tariffs on foreign products for national security. By law, the Secretary of Commerce has 270 days to present the findings from the investigation into the president.
White House officials said the investigation would include certain derivatives made from raw mined copper, refined copper, alloys, scrap and copper.
Rebecca F. Elliott contributed the report.
