Can the US economy survive Trump's copper tariffs?

Copper is everywhere — your car, your house, your appliances. But it's about to get more expensive after President Donald Trump announced a 50% tariff on copper imports starting Aug. 1. The action could drive up costs for U.S. consumers.

Trump wants the tariffs to help "ramp up domestic production" of copper, said CBS News. The U.S. "cannot be reliant on foreign imports of the copper" needed to produce "key military hardware, infrastructure and everyday electronics," said White House spokesman Kush Desai. But there will be "ripple effects," said CBS. Americans are likely to "see higher prices for home repairs and anything that uses copper," said Ryan Young, a senior economist at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. A change in how copper is priced "could upend everything” across the American economy, said Bloomberg's David Gura.

What did the commentators say?

China is currently the "world's largest processor and consumer" of copper, said The New York Times. That puts the metal at the "center of a geopolitical tug of war" between Washington and Beijing over "critical resources." The new tariff is critical to American national security, said billionaire mining entrepreneur Robert Friedland to the Financial Times. Without increased American copper production, "you have a critical vulnerability."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Trump's decision is "bewildering," said The Wall Street Journal editorial board. His announcement "sent the copper market into turmoil," affecting U.S. manufacturers "that use the vital metal." Prices were already rising after Trump in February ordered a national security investigation into copper imports. That caused "businesses and traders to stockpile inventory." In the long term, developing a stronger domestic copper industry "will take more than tariffs." A "permitting morass" makes it difficult to develop new mines and smelters. In the short term, Trump is merely making it harder and expensive to acquire the material. "How this will help the U.S. economy is a mystery," the Journal added.

Trump's copper announcement "could be his riskiest tariff move," Martin Baccardax said at Barron's. America imports about half its copper supply, about 1.7 million tons a year, for use in "housing, transportation, construction and the generation of electricity." Even more copper will be needed to build out the data centers used to power artificial intelligence. But increased costs of the metal will also hit home (literally) in old-fashioned ways: Each new house "contains nearly 440 pounds of copper in wiring, plumbing and appliances." Hindering the advancement of new tech "seems risky," but it is even more dangerous to add an "extra layer of costs to old-economy bellwethers like housing."

What next?

America is "home to vast, untapped copper resources," said Deseret News. Utah, which already has three copper mining operations, could benefit from Trump's move. The U.S. is "well-positioned to be self-reliant in meeting copper demand for generations to come," said Adam Estelle, the president and CEO of the Copper Development Association. But existing copper mines can only do so much in the near term, said Deseret News. Growing U.S. demand for the metal means manufacturers "will remain dependent on the international import market for the foreseeable future."