Donald Trump has announced he will impose 50% tariffs on copper which has now reached record high prices.
On Tuesday the US President said, “Today we’re doing copper” and he has suggested that he could impose a 50% tariff rate on imports, and he could possibly hit pharmaceuticals with a 200% border tax in 18 months’ time.
On Monday Trump sent letters to set rates of up to 40% on over 12 countries that will come into effect on 1 August causing confusion.
Overnight copper futures in America increased by more than 10% to $5.682 a pound soaring to an all-time high.
Copper prices slumped on the London Metal Exchange by 2.4% as trading opened then eased to $9,653 a tonne.
On Wednesday the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, told the Bundestag, “I am cautiously optimistic that we can succeed in reaching an agreement with the US in the next few days, by the end of the month at the latest.”
On pharmaceutical imports Trump said, “We’re going to give people about a year, year and a half to come in, and after that they’re going to be tariffed if they have to bring the pharmaceuticals into the country, at a very high rate, like 200%.
“We’re going to be announcing pharmaceuticals, chips and various couple of other things – you know, big ones.”
