Copper Surges Past $14,000/Tonne on Trump Tariff Expectations

Copper prices have broken above $14,000 per tonne in London, reaching a two-month high as traders anticipate an announcement from former U.S. President Donald Trump on refined copper import tariffs.

The surge is largely driven by market expectations that Trump will soon announce a policy on refined copper import tariffs, prompting global traders to rush large volumes of refined copper into the United States ahead of time.

This has exacerbated supply and demand tensions in the international copper market, with copper inventories at the London Metal Exchange (LME) falling from 400,000 tonnes in April to approximately 244,025 tonnes.

U.S. domestic market inventories have surged to 71,731 short tons, nearly doubling from around 34,000 short tons at the end of last year.

Citigroup futures analysts attribute this increase to large-scale imports of refined copper into the United States, which has directly pushed up domestic inventory levels.