The rise in US copper prices can have severe economic consequences

The cost of copper for us has made us buyers after President Donald Trump He said He imposes a 50 % tariff on metal imports.

This means that the high prices are now more higher in the United States than anywhere – and analysts Warning a blow to the broader American companies and economics as a result.

United States imports Lower From copper, which is used in products ranging from machines, electronics and home commodities to housing and infrastructure projects. Trump’s declared ambition is to increase local production, but experts say this will take years to intensify and contracts to meet the entire demand-at a huge investment cost.

Traders have prepared for a presidential advertisement on copper duties since February, which has led to major inventory transformations away from Europe, Asia and the United States to the United States

However, the rate and timing were not clear – and market participants say they are also, given the ambiguity in official correspondence this week, a possible room for negotiation exemptions, and modern examples of quick policy changes from the White House. Trade Minister Howard Lootnick CNBC said Tuesday is likely to be carried out at the end of July, perhaps on August 1.

Cooper’s American prices ended a 13 % higher session on Tuesday-which is the finest profit per day since 1989-which represents a record of $ 5.69 per pound. On the London Stock Exchange (LME), global prices have risen, prices are only 0.3 %.

It is an unusually wide premium reflection that develops copper and minerals elsewhere.

Since the US prices are still high despite the largest stocks of usual, the gap is in For us the future comics More than $ 500 and $ 1500 have been fluctuated since Trump announced a copper investigation in February. Historically, this rate was almost zero, and it was about $ 150 in 2024.

Meanwhile, the prices in the Shanghai Metal Market were similar to those in LME.

On Tuesday, the PRICE ComEX-LEM premium increased by 138 %, moving over 2600 dollars per ton, according to the mineral mineral material in London.

By August, Benchmark said that American consumers can pay about $ 15,000 per metric ton of copper, while the rest of the world pays about $ 10,000, assuming that the tariff rate of 50 % falls into force at the beginning of the month.

Dan de Jong, the main analyst for copper arrangement and prices, said this great contradiction will begin to have a major economic impact.

He said: “When home spending, if you buy a new refrigerator, air conditioner, the car, everything will become more expensive, and you can expect companies to pass it reasonably.” Depending on the end of the final foundation tariff rates, American consumers can choose to buy goods that produce more cheaply due to this effect.

“If we look at public investment, US debt has become more expensive, the dollar decreases, and now you get an increase in the cost of the main raw materials for infrastructure investments … I expect to start showing the effects of employment.”

Di Jong said that there is another side effect that projects begin to switch copper of aluminum cheaper, which can be used in some cases as an alternative, although it is heavier and more expensive to maintain long -term.

“All this definitely enters the risk of destroying the demand,” he pointed out.

“The question is, can America replace imported products with homemade products, and how quickly?” Peter Chis, an older colleague in the German Marshall Fund, said on Wednesday at “Squawk Box Eurip” at CNBC. The main sources of American copper include Chile, Canada, Peru and Mexico.

“There is a fact that must be dealt with, and that the price of copper with a 50 % tariff will not mean that copper production in the United States passes through the ceiling tomorrow.”

Cass said that consumers and companies in the United States will feel an immediate impact, and it is likely to reach plans to build the infrastructure of the United States.

Meanwhile, analysts at City described on Tuesday as “the moment of the water gatherings in the copper market in 2025.”

They said in a note on Wednesday: “The implementation of the imminent tariff should be closed suddenly for more copper charges restricted in the United States (perhaps for the rest of 2025),” they said that this would lead to a decline in Ex-Us prices.

However, they do not expect Comex-LEME Premium to reflect a 50 % complete tariff, given both the accumulation of the last American stock and the possibility that American copper exporters ultimately negotiate at a lower rate-another possibility still hanging on the market.