President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced he plans to slap 50 percent tariffs on imports of copper, a move that’s drawing skepticism as the administration advances a number of contentious mines across the U.S.
“I believe the tariff on copper, we’re going to make it 50 percent,” Trump said at a Cabinet meeting.
The Trump administration in recent months has moved to approve projects like the Resolution Copper mine in Arizona that some local tribal members and conservation groups have warned will decimate the holy ground known as Oak Flat.
The administration has also added a number of projects tied to copper exploration and production to its federal dashboard as “transparency projects,” and Trump officials have vowed to advance a stalled copper mining project near Minnesota’s pristine Boundary Waters.
