Key Takeaways
President Trump has placed a 50% tariff on copper imports beginning on August 1, in line with tariffs on steel and aluminum that he raised in June from 25%.
The United States imports about 50% of its refined copper, mostly from Chile, but also Canada, Mexico, and Peru.
About 70% of current domestic copper supplies are mined in Arizona, where the Resolution Copper Mine has been trying for more than a decade to begin operation but has faced opposition from environmentalists and native American tribes, as well as regulatory hurdles.
Rather than develop mines domestically, President Biden invested in a rail project with Europe in copper-rich Africa, where China has a major presence.
President Trump has announced a 50% tariff on copper imports starting August 1 to usher in copper mining in the United States, as the country has ample copper reserves, but U.S. smelting and refining capacity lags behind global competitors. This announcement follows through on an earlier statement that he would target a key metal used for semiconductors, lithium-ion batteries, renewable energy technology, and other products. In February, Trump issued an executive order calling for an investigation into the effects of copper imports on national security, stating that the country’s dependence on foreign producers could jeopardize U.S. defense, infrastructure, and technology. Earlier, he also suggested imposing tariffs of up to 25% on copper imports. Copper is the third-most-consumed metal globally, behind iron and aluminum. Trump’s announcement will bring copper tariffs in line with U.S. duties on imports of steel and aluminum, which the President doubled to 50% in early June.
About half of the refined copper the United States uses is imported. It brought in 810,00 metric tons in 2024, with the vast majority coming from Chile (65%), followed by Canada (17%), Mexico (9%), and Peru (6%). Most domestically produced U.S. copper comes from mines in Arizona, which accounted for about 70% of domestic output in 2024 and where the development of a new mine, the Resolution Copper Mine, planned by Rio Tinto and BHP, has been stalled for more than a decade due to environmental opposition, opposition from Native American tribes, and regulatory hurdles. The Resolution Copper Mine is estimated to be able to produce up to one billion pounds of copper annually and supply 25% of U.S. domestic needs if it can get off the ground. Copper is also mined in Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.
American businesses use copper in components for homes, cars, high-tech devices, the power grid, and data centers. Copper futures recently hit a record in New York as traders anticipated Trump’s announcement. Futures contracts jumped by 13% — the largest single-day price surge in records going back to 1968, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
British multinational research firm BMI expects global copper mine output to increase by 2.5% in 2025 due to recovering production in Chile and the ongoing ramp-up at the Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia. From 2025 to 2034, it expects global copper mine production to increase at an average annual rate of 2.9% with annual output increasing from 23.8 million metric tons in 2025 to 30.9 million metric tons by 2034. Peru, Russia, and Zambia are also expected to be major contributors to the increase in global production. Despite these expected production increases, the world is expected to meet only 70% of global copper demand by 2035, according to the International Energy Agency.
The U.S. Geological Survey reports that Chile has the highest known copper reserves at 190 million metric tons, followed by Peru’s reserves at 100 million metric tons. While the Democratic Republic of Congo’s reserves of 80 million metric tons are less than Peru’s reserves, Congo outproduces Peru. Congo’s output is second only to Chile’s output. (See graph below.)
Beginning in 2022, the Biden administration and the European Union channeled nearly $1 billion into a large infrastructure project in Africa, where China has a huge presence. The U.S.-backed partnership is funding a western export route from the African Copperbelt, straddling Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, to Lobito. The Lobito rail project is intended to transport copper and cobalt from the heart of Africa to a port in Angola, en route to the United States and Europe. China is expanding the rail infrastructure in the other direction, bringing mined materials from the same region to Africa’s eastern coast and onward to Asia.
Export Corridors from the Copperbelt to Africa’s Major Ports
Conclusion
President Trump has placed a 50% tariff on copper imports beginning on August 1, in line with tariffs on steel and aluminum that he raised in June from 25% previously. The United States imports about 50% of its refined copper, mostly from Chile, but also Canada, Mexico, and Peru. Trump wants to develop a larger copper mining industry in the United States. About 70% of current domestic copper supplies are mined in Arizona, where the Resolution Copper Mine has been trying for more than a decade to begin operation but has faced opposition from environmentalists and native American tribes, as well as regulatory hurdles. Rather than develop mines domestically, President Biden invested in a rail project with the European Union in copper-rich Africa, where China has a major presence.
