Trump vows steep copper tariffs, broadens trade war

Perth Now

08-07-2025

US President Donald Trump has broadened his global trade war as he announced a 50 per cent tariff on imported copper and said long-threatened levies on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals were coming soon.
One day after he pressured 14 trading partners, including powerhouse US suppliers like South Korea and Japan, with sharply higher tariffs, Trump reiterated his threat of 10 per cent tariffs on products from Brazil, India and other members of the BRICS group of countries.
He also said on Tuesday trade talks have been going well with the European Union and China, though added he is only days away from sending a tariff letter to the EU.
Trump's remarks, made during a White House cabinet meeting, could inject further instability into a global economy that has been rattled by the tariffs he has imposed or threatened on imports to the world's largest consumer market.
US copper futures jumped more than 10 per cent after Trump's announcement of new duties on a metal that is critical to electric vehicles, military hardware, the power grid and many consumer goods.
They would join duties already in place for steel, aluminium and car imports. US pharmaceutical stocks also slid from the day's highs following Trump's threat of 200 per cent tariffs on drug imports, which he said could be delayed by about a year.
Other countries, meanwhile, said they would try to soften the impact of Trump's threatened duties after he pushed back a Wednesday deadline to August 1.
Trump's administration promised "90 deals in 90 days" after he unveiled an array of country-specific duties in early April. So far only two agreements have been reached, with the United Kingdom and Vietnam. Trump has said a deal with India is close.
Trump said countries have been clamouring to negotiate.
"It's about time the United States of America started collecting money from countries that were ripping us off ... and laughing behind our back at how stupid we were," he said.
Trump's administration has been touting those tariffs as a significant revenue source. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington has taken in about $US100 billion ($A153 billion) so far and could reach $US300 billion ($A460 billion) by the end of the year.
The United States has taken in about $US80 billion ($A123 billion) annually in tariff revenue in recent years.
Global markets have not responded dramatically to the latest tariff twists, which come after months of turmoil.
Trump said he will "probably" tell the European Union within two days what rate it can expect for it exports to the US, adding that the 27-member bloc had been treating his administration "very nicely" in trade talks.
The EU, the largest bilateral trade partner of the US, aims to strike a deal before August 1 with concessions for certain key export industries, such as aircraft, medical equipment and spirits, according to EU sources.
Japan, which faces a possible 25 per cent tariff, wants concessions for its large car industry and will not sacrifice its agriculture sector, a powerful domestic lobby, for the sake of an early deal, top trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa said on Tuesday.
Washington and Beijing agreed to a trade framework in June, but with many of the details still unclear, traders and investors are watching to see if it unravels before a separate, US-imposed August 12 deadline or leads to a lasting detente.
"We have had a really good relationship with China lately, and we're getting along with them very well. They've been very fair on our trade deal, honestly," Trump said, adding that he has been speaking regularly with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Trump said the United States would impose tariffs of 25 per cent on goods from Tunisia, Malaysia and Kazakhstan, with levies of 30 per cent on South Africa, Bosnia and Herzegovina, climbing to 32 per cent on Indonesia, 35 per cent on Serbia and Bangladesh, 36 per cent on Cambodia and Thailand and 40 per cent on Laos and Myanmar.