Insiders: White House's copper tariff plan stalled On September 10th, according to Reuters, two informed sources said that the White House has not yet made a decision on refined copper tariffs, and officials are weighing the potential benefits of rising copper prices that could push up manufacturing costs and encourage domestic mining. This hesitation comes at a time when the government is increasingly concerned about affordability issues before the November midterm elections, putting pressure on Trump and Republican lawmakers to prove that their economic policies are lowering rather than raising costs for American consumers and businesses. Due to expectations that Trump will impose tariffs on refined copper products such as cathode copper and copper concentrates produced by mines, copper prices have soared to record highs. Traders and industrial buyers are competing to build inventories in the United States to stock up before the new tariffs, forming one of the world's largest copper inventories. A White House official stated that the government has not yet made a final decision on tariffs and confirmed that the Department of Commerce has submitted an update to Trump before the June 30th deadline set by the White House. The official stated, "The government continues to evaluate all options to bring copper and other key manufacturing industries back to the United States." These remarks indicate that tariffs are not a foregone conclusion, despite market expectations that the United States may expand existing tariffs to refined copper. [Original link]