Trump's 50 Percent Copper Tariff Will Drive Up Prices for Tech, Homes, Military Equipment, and More
It might be the Trump administration's most foolish trade policy idea yet.

Newly announced tariffs on imported copper might be the Trump administration's most foolish trade policy yet. It is a move that will force American industries to pay significantly higher prices for a metal that is essential for everything from tech manufacturing to homebuilding.
"Copper is necessary for Semiconductors, Aircraft, Ships, Ammunition, Data Centers, Lithium-ion Batteries, Radar Systems, Missile Defense Systems, and even, Hypersonic Weapons, of which we are building many," Trump wrote Wednesday on Truth Social, as he announced a new 50 percent tariff on all copper imports starting on August 1.
It is exactly because of all those uses that this new tariff is a terrible idea. America has a lot of copper—it was the world's sixth-largest copper producer last year, according to U.S. Geological Survey data—but American demand for copper is even higher. The U.S. imports about half the copper that it uses annually (mostly from allies like Chile and Canada).
Those imports are about to get a whole lot more expensive. Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, a London-based agency that tracks the prices of raw materials around the world, expects that American consumers will pay about $15,000 per metric ton of copper when the tariffs are imposed, while the rest of the world will see prices around $10,000 per metric ton.
Those higher prices will be passed along the supply chain for everything that's made with copper—which means anything containing wires, pipes, or computer chips.
Artificially hiking the price that Americans pay for copper is a particularly egregious own goal for an administration that supposedly wants to promote domestic manufacturing. The copper tariffs will put American copper-using industries at a distinct disadvantage relative to their rivals in other countries, where copper will be less expensive. Because copper is essential to electric and digital infrastructure, the impact of the tariffs could extend well beyond manufacturing.
"This is a terrible idea and will have a significant impact on the tech sector," warns Matt Mittelsteadt, a technology policy expert with the Cato Institute. Raising copper prices via tariffs will "massively strain the infrastructure that powers innovation," he added.
The White House believes that the tariffs will encourage more copper mining and production in the United States. That may happen in the long run, but it takes decades to develop new mines. A report published last year found that American mineral mines take an average of 29 years to get up and running, the second-longest period in the world (trailing on Zambia).
It would make a lot of sense for the Trump administration to do whatever it can to speed up the development of more mines, particularly as global demand for copper is projected to double in the next decade. There are "ample" copper reserves in the United States, the White House said in February.
Tariffs are the wrong way to go about doing that. For the foreseeable future, American industries will need to continue importing copper—but now will have to pay much higher prices to do so.
"The problem for Trump's somewhat naive economic vision is that the reality of the U.S. copper market is that it will be extremely difficult to get a meaningful boost to copper mining and processing in both the short and long terms," writes Clyde Russell, a commodities and energy columnist for Reuters. "The overall impact is likely to be higher inflation if costs are passed to consumers, or lower investment and employment if companies do what Trump has suggested and 'eat the tariffs.'"
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This is so fucking retarded. The entire purpose of a protectionist tariff is to raise prices. That's how the government nudges people into buying from the protected industry. It raises the price of imports. But Trump and his defenders want it both ways. They want these tariffs to protect domestic industry, but they also want the affected businesses to just eat the taxes and not raise prices. And when prices do go up, he and his defenders go on the attack, deny it, or lie about it. What a clown show.
How many copper deposits exist in the US? Is this your next failed predictions?
The regulatory laws around mining do more for the cost of copper than almost anything else.
So we keep the regs and just add more tax burden on businesses who are already paying more because of the regs? Genius!
The grey box is tossing a red herring with 'regulations' painted on it again? It's one of his favorite distractions when he defends taxes.
I get you two are ignorant to most topics on economics.
But what happens to costs when demand stays the same but supply is reduced. Either you or SOGN can answer.
What do expensive regulations do to supply?
Even you two know nothings should be able to answer.
What you two are defending is a regulatory scheme that limits US production to benefit foreign production. A market manipulation greater than tariffs. Youre just too dumb to notice it.
1. Higher prices
2. Lower supply
But tell me, oh great progressive econ major, how increasing taxes without reducing the regs and allowing time for new mines to open, new smelters to open will increase domestic production?
how increasing taxes without reducing the regs and allowing time for new mines to open, new smelters to open will increase domestic production?
Same way that Trump's tariffs will simultaneously usher in an era of "true" free trade with zero tariffs across the board, have a baseline tariff of 10-20% as a matter of principle, be low enough to collect revenue to offset other taxes, be high enough to collect little revenue and be protectionist, and protect domestic industry without raising prices. According to Jesse Trump's tariffs can do all those things all at the same time! How? Magic!
A magic trick I'd like to see him do is make his head disappear up his ass.
You, preaching ignorance of economics? I thought your standard reply was that economists are morons.
Consistency, what a concept, about as useful as principles.
Jesse is a useless Trump apparatchik. Him and his sock drawer have been here over a decade defending trump, first as lovesconstitution1789 et al. Asking him to defend his loyalty to Trump from an economic perspective will only result in him telling you what you believe and how you voted and numerous other ad hominems. Best to just mute the cocksucker.
first as lovesconstitution1789
I'd forgotten that guy. You think it's the same person? I don't.
God that's brilliant. Instead of trying to reduce the regulations (or even document them and their costs) you cheerlead for higher taxes AND higher prices.
Trump is they god. He's an inferior one, but you will never admit he's even made a single mistake. I haven't noticed anything you've said about Epstein. Have you accepted that about-face too as the word of thy inferior god?
What a moral coward.
Fucking progressives and their love for taxes.
The way these tariffs are reported is disingenuous.
First the 50% tariff is not going to raise the price by 50%.
When trump added the 25% tariff to Canadian aluminum entering the US, this was a 25% increase in the already existing tariff.
The tariff went from $0.56 per lbs of raw aluminum up 25% = $0.14 per lbs.
Based on a price of $1.40 per lbs the actual tariff increase was 10% of the actual purchase price.
Regarding Copper. Kennecott produces Copper in the US and the imported copper pricing was lower. Due to a major run on copper because of EV's etc the imported price of copper has risen.
I didn't dig in but the tariff will not increase the actual price of copper by 50%, the tariff on it is increasing which will most likely level the price of imported with US produced copper...
You sure whooped that strawman's ass! Bravo!
All so you can defend taxes. Because that's what you're doing. You're defending taxes by refuting arguments no one has made, by belittling and mocking people who point out the economic effects of these taxes, and then continuing to attack arguments no one ever made. In the defense of taxes.
Never thought I'd see the say when so-called conservative Republicans championed higher taxes. Maybe that's because their Party is run by an 80s Democrat.
What did he say that you dont understand? Even one the the articles you posted this morning but didnt read said the same thing.
This is why people know you're fucking retarded.
This is why everyone knows you and Trump are economic morons, and you've got less principle than Biden. At least he never promised to release the Epstein papers. Cling to his ass, get you nose in deep, because the shit's gonna get worse.
Neither of you "fucking retards" - I'm referring of course to Jesse and NNN - can refute a single thing in the article - all you have are insults and your limp dicks in your hands.
Go ahead and actually READ the article, and then go ahead and dismantle it line by line. No pointless side-arguments that don't correlate to anything else; no gaslighting about Libertarians actually being "liberals"; no desperate insults toward others that you believe upholds your virtue but actually make you look like a lummox with a 4th-grade education - actually dispute the content. We'll wait...
Jesse and his band of idiots don't refute what people say, they refute people.
Pile enough attacks on someone and what they say no longer matters.
That's why I have him and his attack dogs on mute. So I'm not tempted to defend myself.
I tried to give you the benefit of the doubt but you have made it clear the others commenting regarding you are correct.
I hope you are just drunk and not seriously as stupid as your posts make you look.
Ok lady, whatever you say.
I'm beginning to think Trump doesn't know the first fucking thing about tariffs.
Lol. I do love watching every dumb motherfucker who has been wrong on every prediction continue to claim intelligence.
This is a very important day. I’ll sign the single-biggest economic relief package in American history and, I must say, or any other package, by the way.
- Trump signing Cares Act
And with statements like this, I think Brandybuck might be onto something. The genius of printing trillions to lockdown the economy, might just be the greatest blunder in American history.
Yeah, the great debater, who constantly harps on how he's refuted every tariff argument there is, yet can't point to a single such post.
Well since you followed the "experts" who's predictions have all been wrong, you should be beginning to think you need to find some new "experts" to listen to.
predictions have all been wrong
Not sure if you're stupid, willfully ignorant, or dishonest.
Either way, it takes time for effects of things like tariffs or massive federal spending to percolate through the economy.
Trump defenders are fond of saying that the CARES Act that Trump enthusiastically signed did not cause any inflation because the inflation didn't happen until Biden was president. Well the effects of that massive deficit spending bill took months to materialize. But you people said that all that inflation was Biden's fault because it happened while he was president. It's true that Biden made it worse with massive spending. But it started with Trump. These things take time to take effect. Especially when Trump's taxes change from day to day.
We KNOW you are a TDS-addled lying pile of shit.
I already have my home, I am constantly told Millennials can't afford a home anyway, and Reason has covered a bajillion stories where homes can't even be built because planning permission permissions drive the price up higher than a few hundred feet of copper wire.
Oh, and the wiring is probably mostly aluminum anyway.
They are crying because they know the already absurdly overpriced EV's and battery chargers, solar controllers and inverters, windmill generators and wiring systems from remote solar and wind farms will continue to increase in price due to the demands on the market making their utopian energy plans even more unaffordable than they currently are and they can't keep pulling the wool over people's eyes so they have to blame the Orangemanbad.
Fucking troglodyte. You dumb motherfuckers can't stop progress, no matter how hard you try. As technology improves, you stupid fuckers will still be driving your gas cars to prove a point to nobody.
Technology isn't political. Get a grip.
The problem is that people have shitty policies in response to legitimate science. The problem isn't the science. The problem is that shitty policies and science are taught together, as if one matters to the other.
Fight the policies, not the science.
Would somebody please reboot Eric already?
Hey ChatGPT. I don't like tariffs, mostly because I hate Trump. Please write me a 1500 word article on the subject.
OK here is your 1500 word article on the subject.
Please write the same exact article 100 different ways so that I can use them at least three times a week.
OK, here is 100 variations of the exact same article.
I hate tariffs not because I hate Trump but because I'm in favour of capitalism, generally free trade, etc., I understand the idea of comparative advantage, and prefer a simpler tax scheme. And I particularly dislike the moronic way in which tariffs are determined.
And most of us here particularly dislike your moronic attempts to distract from your raging case of TDS.
Fuck off and die.
Sounds like GREAT opportunity for Boehm to start a copper company instead of wasting his time on BS babble.