US slaps 50% tariff on semi-finished copper imports, prices retreat

NEW YORK - US President Donald Trump imposed a 50 percent tariff on all semi-finished copper imports Wednesday, citing national security concerns, with prices of the commodity dropping sharply as the levies were not as wide-ranging as traders had feared.

The metal is used extensively in industry and the manufacture of defense systems, and the White House said the United States had become overly reliant on copper imports, having once been a world leader in production.

The price of copper, which had soared after Trump flagged the tariffs earlier this month, plunged by almost 20 percent when it became clear the order would not apply to other products such as refined copper or raw copper metal.

On the Comex exchange in New York at around 1900 GMT, copper was down 18.24 percent, trading at $4.59 per pound.

The tariffs will take effect Friday, the White House said.

Tariffs on cars and those on copper products will not be cumulative. If a product is subject to both, it is the auto tariffs that will apply, the White House said.

The lack of tariff "stacking" will reassure investors who rushed to buy copper early this month when Trump said he was considering a 50 percent tariff on the metal, but gave no details.

Copper prices hit a record then at more than $5.80 per pound.

The White House justified the tariffs on national security grounds.

"The United States is now dangerously dependent on foreign imports of semi-finished copper, intensive copper derivative products, and copper-containing products, and imbalances in the global markets make domestic investment increasingly unviable," the White House said.

It cited a Cold War-era law, the Defense Production Act, to guarantee that part of US production of copper cannot be exported, so as to support US industry. — Agence France-Presse