Trump says he will impose 50% tariff on copper imports

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he will announce a 50% tariff on copper later in the day, aiming to boost U.S. production of a metal critical to electric vehicles, military hardware, the power grid and many consumer goods.

Trump's decision to impose copper tariffs surprised markets - coming earlier and at a higher rate than the industry had expected.

U.S. Comex copper futures jumped more than 12% after the announcement to a record high.

Trump told reporters at a White House cabinet meeting that he planned to make the copper tariff announcement later in the day but he did not say when the tariff would take effect.

"I believe the tariff on copper, we're going to make 50%," Trump said.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in an interview on CNBC on Tuesday that the copper tariffs would likely be put in place by the end of July or August 1.

The Trump administration announced a so-called Section 232 investigation into U.S. imports of the red metal in February. The deadline for the investigation to conclude was November and it was unclear whether the fresh tariffs meant the investigation had concluded.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The National Mining Association declined to comment, saying it preferred to wait until details were released. The American Critical Minerals Association did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Copper is used in construction, transportation, electronics and many other industries. The United States imports roughly half of its copper needs each year.

Major copper projects across the United States have faced strong opposition in recent years due to a variety of reasons, including Rio Tinto and BHP's Resolution Copper project in Arizona and Northern Dynasty Minerals's Pebble Mine project in Alaska.

Shares of the world's largest copper producer, Phoenix-based Freeport-McMoRan, shot up nearly 5% in Tuesday afternoon trading. The company, which produced 1.26 billion of copper in the United States last year, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Freeport - which would benefit from U.S. copper tariffs but worries that the duties would hurt the global economy - has advised Trump to focus on boosting U.S. copper production.

Countries set to be most affected by any new U.S. copper tariff would be Chile, Canada and Mexico, which were the top suppliers to the United States of refined copper, copper alloys and copper products in 2024, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

Chile, Canada and Peru - three of the largest copper suppliers to the United States - have told the Trump administration that imports from their countries do not threaten U.S. interests and should not face tariffs. All three have free trade deals with the United States.

Mexico's Economy Ministry, Chile's Foreign Ministry and Canada's Finance Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Chile's Mining Ministry and Codelco copper miner declined to comment.

A 50% tariff on copper imports would be a hit to U.S. companies that use the metal because the country is years away from meeting its needs, said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank.

"The U.S. has imported a whole year of demand over the past six months, so the local storage levels are ample," Hansen said. "I see a correction in copper prices following the initial jump."

(Reporting By Andrea Shalal and Jarrett Renshaw; Additional reporting by Polina Devitt in London, Divya Rajagopal in Toronto and Fabian Cambero and Daina Beth Solomon in Santiago; Editing by Veronica Brown, Franklin Paul, Cynthia Osterman and Mark Porter)