Following a Commerce Department investigation that started in February, President Donald Trump declared Tuesday that the United States would impose a 50% tariff on copper. Additionally, he issued a warning about a possible 200% pharmaceutical tariff.
Trump made the comments during a nearly two-hour Cabinet meeting in which he discussed a variety of subjects and alluded to additional trade actions, such as new tariffs targeted at Europe. He urged Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, to step down once more.
Trump announces 50% tariff on copper
“Today we’re doing copper,” Trump said in the meeting. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed that “the rate will be 50%.”
The ruling aligns copper with current steel and aluminum tariffs, which already impose 50% duties. Copper prices on the COMEX exchange rose more than 10% after the announcement, but by the afternoon, they had somewhat decreased. Trump did not say when the copper tariff would go into effect, but Lutnick later said on CNBC that he anticipated it to be in place by the end of July.
To defend the copper tariff on national security grounds, the administration invoked Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, the same legal justification it had previously applied to steel, aluminum, and autos. The new policy may have a major effect on trade between China and Chile, two of the biggest producers of copper worldwide.
Trump also alluded to upcoming trade restrictions. He made reference to impending tariffs on semiconductors and prescription medications when he stated, “We’re going to be announcing pharmaceuticals, chips.” He floated a grace period before the pharmaceutical tariffs take effect, but he did not provide a specific date.
“We’re going to give people about a year, a year and a half to come in, and after that they’re going to be tariffed,” he explained. Trump added that the eventual duty could reach “a very, very high rate, like 200%.” “We’ll give them a certain period of time to get their act together,” Trump said.
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