White House Copper Tariff Plan Stalls Due to Concerns About Affordability, Sources Say

Two people with knowledge of the situation say that the White House hasn't yet decided on tariffs for refined copper. Officials are weighing the benefits of encouraging more domestic mining against concerns about higher prices.

The administration has been focusing on affordability in the run-up to November's midterms. President Donald Trump and Republican legislators are under pressure to show that their economic policies lower costs, rather than raise them, for American businesses and consumers.

Prices of copper have risen to new highs as traders and industrial buyers prepare for tariffs that Trump may impose on refined copper products, such as cathode or copper concentrate from mines. Industrial buyers and traders have been building up inventories to prepare for any new tariffs. This has led to one of the largest stocks of copper in the world.

White House official confirmed that Trump's administration has not yet made a decision about the tariffs. The Commerce Department had provided an update by the June 30th deadline.

The official stated that the administration is evaluating all options for reshoring copper and other critical manufacturing to the United States.

These comments indicate that tariffs aren't a certainty, despite market expectations that the United States might extend current duties on refined copper.

As part of Trump’s larger push to rebuild U.S. Manufacturing and reduce dependence on foreign suppliers of critical materials, the administration is considering tariffs on refined copper.

Copper is used for construction,?transportation and electronics, among other industries. S&P Global predicts that the AI and Defense sectors will boost global copper consumption by 50% by 2040.

Freeport-McMoRan, Rio Tinto and Freeport-McMoRan are the only two copper smelters in operation.

The tariffs proposed could increase the cost of imported copper and improve the economics for U.S. mining and smelting projects. Rio executives, for instance, said earlier this year that "the current mechanisms and tariffs surrounding copper" did little to offset the difficult economics of their U.S. Smelter.

Copper tariffs that are broader could increase costs for manufacturers who rely on copper, such as those producing electrical equipment, automobiles and construction products.

This tension has complicated Trump's administration's attempts to use tariffs as a tool to encourage domestic production, without increasing inflation or undermining his political message about lowering the cost-of-living.

Tariff uncertainty also prevents copper from being exported to markets outside the U.S. This further restricts global supply.

As long as the tariff policy is not resolved, this possibility will reduce the incentive for metals to be returned to international markets, said Jacob White, a mineral analyst at Sprott Asset Management, an investment firm that invests in copper-producing companies.

U.S. RELYING ON GLOBAL COPPER MINERS

In 2025, the market was expecting a blanket copper tariff to be applied to all products. Trump however stopped short of a blanket tariff in July 2025 and imposed levies instead on pipes, wires and other semi finished products. This was much to the dismay?of copper mining companies.

Trump asked Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to update him on the copper market by June and to recommend whether to impose 15% tariffs starting January 1, 2027 that would increase to 30% in 2028. It wasn't immediately clear what Lutnick had recommended to Trump.

U.S. Geological Survey data shows that imports of refined copper have increased 16-fold in the last year, despite a 20% drop in production. There is enough copper in the country to last nearly 30 years.

Trump has been pushing in the last year to boost U.S. Copper projects, such as the Resolution Copper Project in Arizona, from BHP, Rio and Antofagasta, and the Twin Metals Project in Minnesota, from Antofagasta.

Trump has also moved to ban exports of electronic waste that contains copper.

(source: Reuters)