President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday instructing the Department of Commerce to investigate whether to impose tariffs on copper and derivative products, key industrial materials, in order to protect national security.
The action sets the stage for more trade friction with Canada and Mexico, which are substantial copper suppliers, as well as other nearby countries, such as Chile and Peru.
“Like our steel and aluminum industries, our great American copper industry has been decimated by global actors attacking our domestic production,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a prepared statement. “To build back our copper industry, I will investigate the imposition of possible tariffs.”
Lutnick will carry out the investigation under Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act, which empowers the president to restrict imports to protect national security. Trump used the authority to impose steel and aluminum tariffs during his first term, and recently announced plans to strengthen and expand those tariffs, beginning March 12.
