US copper buyers seen paying a high price for Trump’s tariff
US buyers of copper will pay a high price if President Donald Trump pushes ahead with a 50% tariff on refined metal as opposed to copper products such as wiring, according to officials in Chile.
While Chile hasn’t received any formal notification and is unaware of the details of the measure, Mining Minister Aurora Williams noted that US manufacturing is dependent on Chilean copper.
Chile accounts for roughly 70% of copper shipped to the US, with state-owned Codelco representing most of that. Still, it would be US buyers — makers of intermediate forms of copper such as wires, rods and tubes — that would pay the levy. They would have little choice as America relies on imports for almost half of its copper needs.
Chile ships “top-notch refined copper with high levels of traceability, so we are interested in that being duly recognized not just in the US but the whole market,” the minister told reporters in Santiago on Thursday. “Chilean mining production, in all its gambits, has high responsibility, is highly valued and highly necessary for manufacturing in the US.”
Chile has been seeking a tariff exemption in its discussions with US officials, Williams said. “That is a topic that’s on the table.”
US buyers would incur higher costs if the tariff is applied to refined metal, Antofagasta CEO Ivan Arriagada said on the sidelines of the same industry event.
“Undoubtedly that would put pressure on makers of copper products in the US, and so it is a concern,” he said.
For Chilean suppliers like Antofagasta, the US represents about a 10th of total copper sales. China is by far the biggest buyer.
The copper market is likely to remain volatile, Arriagada said. Once tariffs are introduced, consumers in the US would draw from stockpiles that have built up ahead of time, impacting demand.
Beyond that, “copper continues to be in relative scarcity,” he said.
Comments
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
ESAB South Arica, the leading supplier of high-end welding and cutting products to the Southern African industrial market is based in...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Flatproofing tire technology engineered to perform in extreme mining environments.
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
