The U.S. copper industry is in crisis - and Washington is finally taking notice. With President Donald Trump's recent announcement of 50% tariffs on copper (HG00) imports under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, the United States has correctly identified copper as a material of strategic national importance. This is an encouraging first step. It safeguards U.S. copper mills from a flood of underpriced imports taking advantage of a broken market structure. For months, speculators and foreign competitors have been exploiting a growing price gap between the U.S. and global copper markets. The benchmark price for ... (full story)