“Eventually, physical demand growth for copper worldwide will come under pressure, as downstream players seek to defer consumption,” said Tom Price, commodities analyst at Panmure Liberum. The US imports about 60 per cent of its copper, primarily from Chile, with the rest met by domestic mines or recycled scrap.

Since February 2025, when Trump first suggested the possibility of copper tariffs, global traders have rushed record volumes of copper to U.S. ports to beat potential levies. This pre-emptive stockpiling created initial market distortions that are now evolving into longer-term structural adjustments.

Copper is used in a wide variety of products from electronics, wiring, machinery and cars. The U.S. produces a majority of the copper it uses but still imports large quantities, primarily from