Trump says 50% tariff on copper imports to take effect on August 1

President Donald Trump said the US would begin levying a 50% tariff on copper imports from Aug. 1, confirming a move that will batter producers of everything from automobiles to homes and appliances who rely on the industrial metal.

The levy is the latest in Trump’s series of tariffs aiming to promote mining and metal processing at home. Trump has already raised fees on steel and aluminum imports, and has signaled more sectoral levies are in the works. That’s in addition to country-by-country tariffs that the White House is finalising with dozens of its biggest trade partners, also set to take effect on August 1.

Global producers have raced to get ahead of Trump’s planned copper levies, including in recent days shifting deliveries to Hawaii and Puerto Rico to cut shipment times. Since February, when Trump first laid out plans for the levies, global traders have sent record volumes of the metal to the US, targeting huge profits to be made on cargoes delivered before the tariffs land.
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