Trump says he will impose 50% tariff on copper

U.S. President Donald Trump said he will announce a 50 per cent tax on imported copper on Tuesday — adding to the growing list of punishing tariffs that are causing economic dislocation in Canada and around the world.

Trump said the tariffs are coming during a cabinet meeting at the White House.

"Today, we're doing copper," he said, after listing a number of other tariffs the U.S. has instituted. "I believe the tariff on copper, we're going to make it 50 per cent."

A spokesperson for Prime Minister Mark Carney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

WATCH | Trump placing tariffs on copper:

U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, said his administration is looking to impose a 50 per cent tariff on copper, though he did not immediately share specifics.

The Trump administration announced a Section 232 investigation over the import of the metal in February.

Trump has already imposed Section 232 tariffs on steel, aluminum and autos, which have been particularly damaging to the Canadian economy, leading to job losses and a drop in exports.

Those tariffs take their name from the section of a U.S. trade law that allows the president to impose levies on certain goods that are said to threaten "national security."

Trump relied on that section to impose tariffs on metals in his first term, which were only lifted on Canadian products after the last Liberal government brokered the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

Canada is a major exporter of copper to the U.S. and a 50 per cent tariff will make it more expensive for U.S. importers to bring in the metal.

According to federal data, Canada exported some $9.3 billion worth of copper and copper-based products in 2023 with a majority of that — 52 per cent — going to the U.S. The next largest markets were China and Japan, accounting for 17 and 12 per cent of Canadian exports respectively.

Trump and Carney are locked in negotiations to come to some sort of trade resolution by July 21.

The president is pursuing a three-pronged approach to tariffs as he tries to radically reshape the American economy.

In addition to the Section 232 tariffs, Trump has imposed a 25 per cent tariff on all non-CUSMA compliant goods coming from Canada, with a lower rate on energy and potash, as part of a border-related tariffs regime.

Trump has said those tariffs are designed to punish Canada for not doing enough to crack down on the fentanyl drug trade, even as U.S. data shows relatively little of that deadly drug crosses the northern border.

Canada has so far been spared Trump's so-called "retaliatory" tariffs, which were paused in part for some countries after the April stock market crash.