Cameco sees uranium cost jump up for US customers if Trump's tariffs go into play
Feb 20 (Reuters) - Canadian uranium miner and producer Cameco (CCO.TO), opens new tab says prices for U.S. customers could rise by 10% if President Trump's tariffs are implemented, weighing heavily on the country that relies primarily on imports of the ore.
Executives on the company's earnings call also said they could look to diversify away from the U.S. to opportunities in other markets, as they have done with new customers in Central and Eastern Europe.
Trump looks to slap 10% tariffs on any energy imports from Canada from March 4.
For the U.S., in 2023, Canada was the largest source of uranium, supplying 27%, followed closely by Australia and Kazakhstan with 22% of deliveries each, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
"A 10% proposed tariff from a major supply source like Canada will effectively raise the uranium price by 10% because if you think about it, U.S. domestic demand is inelastic for contracted volumes," said Grant Isaac, chief financial officer at Cameco, adding that it would also push other non-tariff countries to simply increase their offer prices by as much.
"The assumption that North America as a free trade zone is probably over - our neighbor to the south has discovered the hammer in the toolbox, which is tariffs," he added.
Cameco also said this allowed the company to look to markets that don't threaten trade action.
"I think the U.S. puts these threats out at the peril to the security of their supply, which then goes back to my original point that this isn't very consistent with an energy dominant strategy," Isaac added.
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