“Today we are doing copper,” Trump told reporters in the room, adding, “I believe the tariff on copper, we are going to make it 50 percent.”
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who was present at the meeting, confirmed that the tariff level would indeed be set at 50 percent.
Lutnick later told CNBC in an interview that Trump would be signing a proclamation within the next day or two, aiming to have the copper tariffs in place by the end of July or early August.
“The idea is to bring copper home, bring copper production home,” Lutnick said.
In Ottawa, Audrey Champoux, spokesperson for Prime Minister Mark Carney, said Carney would withhold comment until Trump formally signed the executive order and more details were released.
The unexpected announcement is expected to rattle Canada’s copper sector, which—like its steel and aluminum industries, already facing 50 percent U.S. tariffs—relies heavily on exports to the United States.
In 2023, Canada exported $9.3 billion worth of copper and copper-based products, according to Natural Resources Canada. The U.S. was the top buyer, purchasing more than half of that total.
Copper, a soft and highly malleable metal, is used in everything from electrical wiring and plumbing to industrial machinery, construction materials, and increasingly in clean energy technologies like solar panels and electric vehicles, according to Natural Resources Canada.
The potential impact of the tariff could be felt nationwide. British Columbia and Ontario account for 46% and 44% of Canada’s copper production, respectively. Refined copper is processed in Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador, while recycled copper is smelted in facilities located in Quebec.
Pierre Gratton, President and CEO of the Mining Association of Canada, said the move is less troubling for British Columbia mines, which have diverse buyers in Europe and Asia. But for Quebec’s copper sector, the situation is “very concerning,” he warned.
