President Donald Trump announced on July 9 that the new 50 percent tariff on imports of copper will take effect on Aug. 1.

“I am announcing a 50 [percent] TARIFF on Copper, effective August 1, 2025, after receiving a robust NATIONAL SECURITY ASSESSMENT,” Trump wrote in a post on social media platform Truth Social.

He noted that copper is needed for manufacturing semiconductors, aircraft, ships, ammunition, data centers, lithium-ion batteries, radar systems, missile defense systems, and hypersonic weapons and is the second most used material by the Department of Defense.

“America will, once again, build a DOMINANT Copper Industry,” he wrote.

Trump signaled on July 8 that he would impose tariffs on copper.

Copper Prices Surge

Copper prices have surged by about 9.91 percent in the past five days, jumping from $5.02 per ounce to $5.62 per ounce. These higher prices will likely weigh on various copper-intensive sectors, including construction and technology.

The tariff follows through on the president’s statement in March that he would impose a levy of up to 25 percent on all copper imports. He urged domestic companies to increase their production of the red metal.

The United States is one of the world’s top copper miners, producing about 1.1 million tons annually. Chile remains the largest copper producer, with 5.3 million tons. This is followed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2.84 million), Peru (2.76 million), and China (1.83 million).

The United States consumes about twice as much as it produces, resulting in the country’s dependence on imports, mainly from Chile.

Copper is a crucial component for electric vehicles and renewable energy sources. Additionally, it will be a vital source for advancing the president’s economic agenda, particularly in artificial intelligence (AI), data centers, robotics, and semiconductors.

Copper is also an imperative material for AI chipmaker Nvidia. The metal is used in the tech juggernaut’s specialized Blackwell chip architecture, data systems, and cooling infrastructure.

Pharmaceutical Tariffs

On July 8, Trump also suggested the possibility of tariffs of up to 200 percent on pharmaceutical imports. He made no such announcement alongside the announcement of new copper duties.

Trump has said that pharmaceutical duties would take longer to begin.

“We’ll give them a certain period of time to get their act together,” he said.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick later confirmed that more details about pharmaceutical tariffs would be released at the end of the month.

“With pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, those studies are being completed at the end of the month, and so the president will then set his policies then, and I’m going to let him wait to decide how he’s going to do it,” Lutnick told CNBC.

Andrew Moran contributed to this report.